Rift Runners Revenge
by Brewski2444
Summary: The second novel of the Sands of Time Series Based on Star Trek but set mainly on Ravnica, then a. Bertram Chandler's Rim Worlds.  Other realities do intrude from time to time...
1. Angels Fall First

FOREWORD

The second book in the Sands of Time Series. This is a journey into science fiction – mainly Star Trek. But being based on A. Bertram Chandlers "Rim Runners" where the fabric of the universe is thin and other realities intrude, so many other themes end up meeting. Strange things happen out on the rim. Not necessarily in any order they are: Alien, Warhammer 40K, GURPS, Battlestar Galactica, the MTG multiverse, Babylon 5, and Andromeda. This story is based in the 39th century, after the fall of the Alpha quadrant. Each chapter is named after a song. The chapter's theme is ether from the song name, the lyrics, or the band.

IANAL & YMMV

Star Trek is a property of Paramount

Alien is a property of 20th Century Fox

Space 1999 is a property of Gerry Anderson

Warhammer is a property of Games Workshop

GURPS is a property of Steve Jackson Games

Battlestar Galactica is a property of Universal (et al.)

Magic the Gathering is a property of Wizards of the Coast

Babylon 5 is a property of Warner / Turner

Song _Artist_

Angels Fall First _Nightwish_

Enola Gay _O.M.D._

Little Lies _Fleetwood Mac_

All Along the Watchtower _Jimi Hendrix_

Spaceship Superstar _Prism_

Riders on the Storm _the Doors_

On a Good Day _Oceanlab_

Rooster _Alice in Chains_

Stealing Time _Above & Beyond_

No Quarter _Led Zeppelin_

Let Go the Line _Max Webster_

C 11

C 12

**1: ANGELS FALL FIRST**

It was a dreary and rainy evening, but then it's always dreary and mostly raining on Eptell III. And it's always evening. The faintness from the K class star means that little light reaches the surface of the cloud-shrouded planet. The planet would be a frozen wasteland except for the high concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses. The barely breathable atmosphere and low axial tilt mean that the entire surface of the planet is at a comfortable temperature, and the high concentration of water vapour, another greenhouse gas, guaranties the cloud and rain. The only reason people eek out a living on this godforsaken rock is the massive amounts of hydrocarbons still used for making polymers. Oh, and smuggling.

The spaceport bar was typical of such seedy establishments. Two humans and a cloaked humanoid entered the bar. It was only moderately busy, and shared the gloominess of the planet. A surly Klingon was tending bar.

The person we were looking for should stick out like a sore thumb, and he did. Two scantily clad human females flanked the Vulcan, in the large booth they occupied.

"Identical twins?" Teysa asked.

"Acropolite clones. They work for Ta'lon. And are the second-most dangerous people in here," I replied.

"And who is the most dangerous?"

"Me, of course," I replied.

We sat ourselves down in the booth. The clones glared at us for our insolence.

"Pivlic," I said.

Pivlic reached up and pulled back his hood. The girls actually gasped. They never expected to actually be sitting across the table form a living demon! I placed my tricorder on the table and activated one of its features.

"We can talk freely, now," I stated.

"When you said I would never forget your entrance I see you mean it," the Vulcan replied. "You seem to be taking unusually strong precautions, for buying some rather legal pieces of equipment. The pair of 100GW thermal taps is not on anybody's restricted list."

"Let's just say that we expect trouble," Teysa answered.

"From whom? Lets just say that I dine here because of my typical business, and the fact that since I own this bar, it's the safest one on this planet."

"Romulans," I stated.

"Romulans? Way out here? They aren't the threat they once were, during the past," Ta'lon questioned.

"This particular one is. Relar has control of an Aeh'lla class scout cruiser," I answered.

"Is this the ship you have detailed construction blueprints for?" Ta'lon asked?

"Yes it is."

"And the cloaking device?"

"Intact and operational," Teysa answered.

"How do you know that? Did you board the ship and steal it?" Ta'lon sounded sceptical.

"Copied it actually," Teysa replied. "On Ravnica there are few secrets that the Orzhov are unable to obtain. We have a working copy here."

Ta'lon raised an eyebrow. "Fascinating. Is that the bonus you spoke of earlier?"

"Yes it is," Pivlic interjected. The girls were surprised at the softness of his voice.

Ta'lon rescanned his establishment. "Then this Romulan may be after you. In fact, I think they are already here. The hooded gentleman at the bar is carrying a late model Romulan disruptor."

"Then we might as well get this over with," I said while shutting down my tricorder. I pressed a button on my wrist while I was putting my tricorder away.

"Live long and prosper," Ta'lon saluted us in the traditional Vulcan fashion. A quick check of the bar, and indeed, almost everyone in the establishment had acknowledged Ta'lon's signal.

I turned to Teysa and said, "I think I'll have one for the road, and then we will retire. Would you like anything?"

"A glass of red wine would be nice," Teysa replied.

I sauntered up to the bar, and passing the hooded figure, I had my phaser out and stuck it in his back. The bartender turned around and had a disruptor rifle pointed squarely at the Romulan's chest. I removed his disruptor from his belt and put it on the bar. Then I pulled back his hood.

"Commander Relar. So you decided to come in person. Can't rely on your centurions? Or do you expect them to come back all sliced and diced?" I asked.

Relar winced. He still remembered the incident on Gamma Eldebron all those years ago. "I thought you perished in a weapons accident."

"Nope, I wasn't in the Tavern at that-"

"Now what would you know about that?" Pivlic was in Relar's face.

"And who are you?" Relar had regained his composure.

"Pivlic of the Orzhov syndicate," Pivlic replied.

Relar had spent enough time on Ravnica that Pivlic's appearance didn't bother him. "Well, Pivlic. I know exactly what my scanners tell me. Three Klingon Z-17 assault shuttles were coming in to land at the Utvara spaceport when one of them fired a photon missile into the nearby town. That's all I know."

"Bullshit!" _Teysa has been hanging around me too long too_, I thought. "I know that you brought those three Z-17's to Ravnica." Teysa snapped her fingers, and a figure left the darkness at the other end of the bar. That winged individual grabbed Relar by the hair and put a rather nasty looking long sword up to his neck.

Relar looked at me.

"Don't look at me," I stated. "I'm just the taxi driver."

"The what?" Relar asked.

"The star ship driver. I just work for my boss," I replied.

"And who would that be?" Relar asked.

"She just walked in the door," I answered.

Relar was allowed to turn to see Razia walking up to the bar. "Ah Relar, so we finally meet in person. It figures that you would be here drinking. That explains all those unconscious Romulans scattered around town." She gave me a kiss and sat down at the bar beside me. "At this time the Boros Legion is not at war with the Romulans. This show belongs to Teysa."

"Who?" Relar was actually turning green!

"Teysa of the Orzhov syndicate," Razia answered while pointing at Teysa. "The Orzhov just made a deal with the Boros for transportation. That's it for our involvement here. Teysa's the one you want to 'deal' with."

I was pretty sure that Relar did not expect both turns of events. Teysa was busy drawing a circle around a chair that she reserved for someone. Then she turned to me, "Can you get your machine?"

"Certainly," I replied. A quick communication and a strange device materialized in the bar.

"What is that?" Relar asked.

"A mana generator. It's a unique creation from the Boros Legion," I explained. "By the way, that's not a Boros angel who has that sword at your throat," I explained

Relar turned to look into his captor's eyes. What he saw frightened him. The two-winged angel that held him firm had uniform dark grey eyes, with no detail. It gave Relar a soul-penetrating stare. "Who are you?" Relar stammered.

"I am an Angel of Despair. I serve the Orzhov," the angel replied. Her voice was dark, and very unlike Razia or Sara's.

"Like I said, it's not our show." I then ordered a drink for Razia and myself, while remembering to get a glass of red wine for Teysa. I handed Teysa her drink with a flourish.

I started drinking my drink, a V & T, while Razia sipped on her Singapore Sling. We both ignored Relar as Teysa's angel dragged him across the bar and placed him in the chair. "Don't burst out laughing," I reminded Razia.

She gave me a quick hug and said, "I wouldn't miss this for the world…"

"And we get to see if that mana generator actually works here," I mentioned. "It is untested…"

Razia leaned over and whispered in my ear, "But you _were_ in the Imp's Wing when it was attacked..." Apparently, Razia overheard my statement earlier.

I whispered back, "I got lucky. They used Z-17's, which were from my time, and have a peculiar whine to their engines. I grabbed Pivlic and ordered a beam-out. So I actually didn't lie. When the photon missile hit, we both were on board the _Parhelion II_."

Razia was still whispering, "I'm sorry you lost your 'house' in Utvara."

"I'm sorry for all those who were needlessly killed," I replied.

"But they weren't…" Razia started with, and then continued, "Yes, that is tragic. Perhaps I should talk with Teysa about setting up a Boros garrison in Utvara. I'm sure we could help…"

"That's up to you two," I replied, using my full voice. "I just drive the ship, remember…"

Razia jabbed me in the ribs. But our conversation was over as we listened in on Teysa's questioning of Relar. Considering the answers, the mana generator was working as Relar struggled, ineffectively, to hide his involvement in the bombing of Utvara.

Teysa was still interrogating Relar about his involvement in the Utvara 'bombing'. She apparently, didn't like the answers she received from Relar. He was definitely 'at fault' s far as Teysa was concerned. And she came up with 'a deal that he couldn't refuse'. Literally. With an angel of despair holding a sword at his throat, and an Advocate who listed all the costs he had inflicted upon Utvara, Relar had no choice but to acquiesce to Teysa's demands. A few minutes later and Relar disappeared from view, carried away by a transporter.

"OK, what just happened?" I asked.

"I have reached a deal with Relar," Teysa stated. "He will be repairing the damage done in my county, as well as giving me all the materials on those Z-17's as he has. He will also be leaving this sector and returning to Ravnica, and leaving us alone to complete this mission. Apparently he doesn't know anything about what we know. He was following _you_, trying to gain some intelligence."

"That wouldn't be the first time he's done that. Same result though," Razia, stated.

Ta'lon came over to us. "Fascinating. How accurate is that method of interrogation?"

"Absolutely accurate," Teysa replied. "Most humanoids can not resist the Verity Circle. That includes angels," Teysa stated while waving a hand towards Razia and her own Angel of Despair.

Razia was about to say something when I put a hand on her arm.

"Yes, fascinating. Humanoid angels… But what would it take for you to give me the technology of your Verity Circle?" Ta'lon asked.

"First, you need to be born in a mana-filled universe. No one from this universe, including our friendly starship driver, can make use of mana. Sorry," Teysa replied.

"I'm sorry too. However, our first deal still needs to be settled. May I see the cloaking device?" Ta'lon asked.

Teysa looked at me. I nodded. "Certainly. By the way if you wish to hire out such services, you can call into Ravnica. Thanks to the Boros Legion there is a subspace relay to our planet. You should visit if you want to experience all of what mana can do…"

* * *

We were leaving orbit with all of the components for two 100 GW geothermal taps. Once Ta'lon saw the _Parhelion II_ de-cloak in front of him, he knew we had a cloaking device that was working. After we concluded the deal and had the taps, we installed the second cloaking device where the first one had been. We were happy, Ta'lon was happy, while Relar was elsewhere. We cloaked and headed for the shipyards of Wa-Lu. Our contract with Teysa wasn't over. She was ship shopping as well.

* * *

After a long slog through our galaxy, we arrived at the shipyards of Wa-Lu. Sara was bringing the _Parhelion II_ in to dock, while Teysa was with K'Tee, talking to the shipyard master and the port master. Teysa was looking for a warship for the Orzhov syndicate, as well as a freighter or two.

Again we were merely spectators. This was Teysa's show and it was her coin that was paying for it. Her entourage was doing all the wheeling and dealing. We just took the down time to have the _Parhelion II_ given an once-over, and any needed maintenance.

Razia, Sara and I were also taking some down time and were simply enjoying each other's company. We booked a hotel planet side, near the Equatorial Cataphracts, and neglected to turn on our communicators for a few days. We eventually returned to the ship for some much needed rest.

Then it was back to Ravnica.

* * *

We cloaked when we reached a parsec from the stable rift.

"So do we tip the Romulans off that we have a copy of their cloak?" I asked.

"No," Razia answered. "Let's keep that a secret for now."

We crossed the rift, changed course and headed to another distant point in Ravi's system. We then de-cloaked, and headed home, parking our ship in its usual perch on top of Sunhome. As we passed over Utvara, Razia had a snicker as she watched Romulan engineers working to restore the town.

After we landed she read the newssheets. The Romulan friends of Ravnica were helping to recover from an off-world mistake. Got to hand it to Relar, he managed to get some positive PR out of the deal.

* * *

We were in for a surprise when we got back. The guild mages had met us at the base of the ship. The runabout Newton was there to take Teysa and Pivlic back to Utvara. As they left, the guild mages had a message for us.

"We have a couple of visitors…" Calrea stated.

"What visitors," Razia demanded.

"Angelic visitors," Calrea replied. We have put them up in Feather's office temporarily…"

Razia looked at me. I just shrugged my shoulders. Then she looked at Sara. Even Sara didn't know what was going on.

"All right. Let's see our two guests," Razia ordered.

We all headed into Sunhome. When we reached Feather's office, there were two male two-winged angels there.

"Who are you?" Razia asked.

"I am Kenidiern, and this is my son Xantcha," The taller angel stated.

Toki scanned the two angels. "They are Serra angels," Toki stated.

"How do you know that?" Razia asked.

"I have scans of both Sara and Reya," Toki replied. "The scans, except for gender, almost match Reya's."

"Reya and Elspeth were the ones that brought us here," Kenidierm interjected.

"Figures," I said.

"Shush," Razia admonished. "Go on…"

"Reya told us to go to Ravnica and join the Boros Legion. She said we would find what we were looking for. Then she had Elspeth transport us here," Kenidierm stated.

"So, what are you looking for?" Razia asked.

"Let me begin at the beginning. I had been incarnated, like Reya, in Serra's Realm. I fell in love with a human, Sosinna. We eventually became a pair, with Serra's blessing. During the collapse of that plane we both escaped with Urza, and had a son, Xantcha," Kenidierm beamed while holding his son.

"But Sosinna grew old and died…"

"Why didn't you life-link with her?" I asked.

"Nobody thought of that ability at the time. If I knew it would give her semi-immortality, I would have. I should have…" you could see the sadness on his face as he realized his mistake.

"I'm sorry. I thought…" I trailed off.

"Go on," Razia interjected.

"After her death, the two of us wandered through the mana-verse, just like Reya. Eventually we met up, a while ago. But we parted ways. It wasn't until recently, that Reya sought us out, with her companion, Elspeth. Reya informed us of a Battlegrace angel, Alejo, and his joining the Boros Legion on Ravnica. Reya suggested we do the same and had Elspeth transport us here," Kenidierm concluded.

That would be Reya and Elspeth, trying to help out wherever they could, I thought. Then a thought clicked into my head.

"Razia, I need to return to the _Parhelion II_," I requested.

Razia knew what I was thinking. "Go ahead. I think we can conclude this event here."

I had returned to the ship. I had called K'Tee, Toki, Alejo, and Necia to the briefing room.

Once they all had arrived I announced, "I have a radical idea."

All four of them had sheepish grins. Then K'Tee spoke up, "If you are thinking of life-links we have beaten you to it. The four of us have already life linked!" So much for my radical ideas…

I returned to Feather's office, just as Razia was welcoming Kenidierm and Xancha into the Boros Legion. Now there were a few female members of my crew that could use a good life linking to an angel …

Razia had a chuckle when I told her that the four had beaten me to my 'radical idea'. "Both Ellen and Rebecca could use mates. I'll try to play matchmaker, if you can keep out of this."

"Hey, I'm still a newbie in angelic affairs. There was no auto teacher lesson on this," I stated.

Razia gave me a long smooch in front of the angels. I think she was making a point, but I didn't mind regardless.

* * *

Sure enough, Razia's matchmaking had succeeded. Kenidierm had joined up with Ellen, and Xancha had bonded with Rebecca. Thus there was no mortal on board the _Parhelion II_ who did not have a life link with an angel, with the exception of Nergat. The living rock has a lifespan of 50 millennia anyways and even with our life-links I expect him to outlive us all!

I didn't know what to say, as the entire crew was bonded and would live as long as they could, barring our destruction. I think that thought just made me more paranoid than ever…

* * *

We still had a job to do. There were still an alphabet's worth of threats to Ravnica, and the Boros Legion. As the 'heads' we were on the hook for those threats. But we actually had the firepower to deal with whatever was thrown at us. The _Parhelion II_ was a complete 9th generation star ship, with a lot of firepower. She had 4 large and 6 small phaser collimator rings, as well as two forward multi-fire torpedo tubes. She also sported 4 pulse phaser cannons (which first appeared on the Defiant), as well as the type 3 phaser cannon, which gave her a lot of forward firepower. She also had dual shields (first appearing on the Sovereign) so she would still have 50% shields while cloaked. And add a Romulan 9th generation cloaking device to the mix and the _Parhelion II_ was a kick ass star ship!

* * *

Razia had cornered me in the hangar bay. "I have heard about Sara's experiment…"

_Oh no_, I thought. I'm still afraid of heights…

That didn't matter to Razia. She undressed me and took me on a flight up to the top of the shuttle bay. It might have started out in desperation, but when we finished, we were floating comfortably above the deck. Razia was satisfied, however, and I was allowed to leave under my own power. That took some doing, as I was still weak in the knees, but wow! Was that an experience!

* * *

I had a new mission. This one was in my own mana-less universe. Teysa had hired us again to transport a crew to the Wa-Lu shipyards to pick up her new warship. Teysa was in our holodeck, going through simulations when I entered.

"Hmmm. An Orion design," I interrupted.

"You can tell that from looking around the bridge?" Teysa sounded incredulous.

"Every race has its unique design style. Then again, having Orion Navy symbols stamped into the doors makes it a dead giveaway," I confessed.

Teysa turned to look at the doors. "Right. Mine is actually going to have Orzhov symbols there. The simulator is stock…"

Teysa's bridge crew seemed to be her two Angels of Despair, and half a dozen Orzhov guild mages. Apparently she inherited the angels from her 'Uncle'. They were absolutely loyal … to Teysa of course.

"When will we arrive back at Wa-Lu?" Teysa asked.

"Three days," I replied.

"Then we better return to training." Teysa had just dismissed me. I left the holodeck and headed down to engineering.

* * *

"Computer," I ordered. "Make a copy of the program currently running on the holodeck, and run a level-1 diagnostic on it."

"That requires command authorization," the computer replied.

"Command authorization Gabriel-1."

"The program is copied and undergoing a level-1 diagnostic," the computer stated.

"Good. Keep repeating the diagnostic until further notice – my voice command only."

"Acknowledged," the computer concluded.

* * *

We had arrived at Wa-Lu. Teysa's 'pocket dreadnought' was awaiting her crew. She bid us farewell, as her people transferred to that ship. Our job was done. Teysa would return to Ravnica under her own power. As we left her I gave her a salute. When she queried me I replied, "It is the honour of a star ship's crew to greet another star ship's crew that way. As we expect to be mostly on the same side, basically in defence of Ravnica, I salute you. May your journeys be successful and your skies be clear," I concluded.

"Thank you! You have been civil to us and may our further 'deals' be beneficial to both of us," Teysa concluded with. That's just about high praise coming from the Orzhov.

* * *

As we left the system I returned to the engineering section of the Parhelion II.

"Computer, cease diagnostics and store program in my personal dataset," I commanded.

"That requires command authorization," the computer replied.

"Command authorization Gabriel-1."

"Program successfully copied into Stephen's personal dataset," the computer concluded.

I now had the full sim package on Teysa's new warship, including all its specs. _Oops, that was unexpected_! Razia didn't know yet, so I decided to keep this a secret. Hopefully we won't ever need to use that data. The level-1 diagnostic prevented the copy from being erased, when Teysa scrubbed the programs from our computers. Chalk it up to my typical paranoia.

* * *

I awoke with Razia's arms around me. "You're terrible at keeping secrets from me," she announced upon my return to consciousness.

"What secrets?" I asked rather sheepishly.

"Oh, just the one about copying Teysa's program. You were practically broadcasting it all night!" Razia started the day with a smooch. _Definitely a good day to be alive…_

* * *

Our return to Ravnica was uneventful. The Parhelion II returned to its parking spot on the roof of Sunhome. Teysa already had a berth in her spaceport for her ship, which arrived later the same week.


	2. Enola Gay

**2: ENOLA GAY**

_All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by_,

John Masefield - Sea Fever

It was a nice sunny day on the oceans of Ravnica. The _Enola Gay_ sliced gracefully through the water. She was a copy of a 12m sailing / performance yacht from the early 21st century. Originally designated the X-40, Razia and I could easily handle her, and she had plenty of room for the three of us. Both Sara and Razia looked _absolutely stunning_ in bikinis. Their wings were free and both angels enjoyed the rather elemental experience of sailing a yacht on the open seas. We were about three days out of port, and in deep waters. The scanners promised fair weather, and we were just enjoying the elemental feel of the water under the keel, and the air passing through our sails (and their wings). Not to toot my own horn, with the regimen of computer aided meals I was still a fine specimen of a 45-ish year-old human, and could hold my own with the ship and her handling, as long as my feet remained on the deck. I could handle aircraft and spacecraft, but ladders, climbing masts – no way! The angels however, were perfect specimens of both beauty and fitness, while Razia had handled a ship with sails before, the first Parhelion.

The song was playing in the background, "_It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been. We got your message on the radio, conditions normal and you're coming home._" The angels didn't know the meaning of the lyrics. But they eventually clued into the ship's name, when I finally relented and told of the story of the original 'Enola Gay'. I named our sailboat in memory that I was the one…

"You did drop the first multi-megaton weapon on Ravnica," Razia was saying.

"And what about those mana-bombs that you like dropping on occasion. They're pretty comparable to the little boy bomb…"

"Only the chosen ones are spared," was Razia's comeback.

"The guild pact dies hard around here, I see," I concluded. With the sails down and the ship slowly drifting on calm waters, we all cuddled and enjoyed the sunset. There were no insects this far from shore, so we watched the stars come out.

* * *

I awoke in Sara's arms. As the angels don't actually need sleep on Ravnica, they took turns sleeping with me. I'd go to sleep with both of them and would wake up with only one. Razia entered the cabin. "Rise and shine! Rise and shine for the blackball line!" Razia has found my nautical history books. And yes I was a sentimental old fool who liked to collect books. Real books made from paper. It took quite a while to regain only a part of my former collection from the 21st century. A quick breakfast, and yes, all the bonded angels tended to eat with their mortal counterparts, even if they didn't need to. It was mid morning when a beep sounded from our scanners. Something large and aquatic was approaching from beneath the waves…

…It was the _Newton_. She surfaced beside the Enola Gay, and Calrea stuck her head out the airlock. "All right you love birds, you are needed back at Sunhome! Not a rush so you can sail back at your leisure."

"See you in two days," I replied. We put up the sails and headed back to shore, while Calrea decided not to play submarine on her trip ashore.

"Calrea's getting a little uppity since you taught her how to pilot a starship," Razia mentioned. "She needs to stop hanging around you!"

"Like the guild mages don't know about our relationship," I replied.

"Yes but getting into the affairs of mortals and having affairs with mortals are two different things," Sara quipped.

"Affairs? I hope it's more than just an affair…"

"Of course it is," Sara replied while dragging me back to the cabin. Razia wasn't about to let the two of us be alone this morning either…

* * *

We had to use the engines when there was no wind. So we reached port earlier that we originally wanted to. We parked the _Enola Gay_ in our berth and left the marina for Sunhome. Entering the main doors and surprising the enforcers, we took the lift up to the guild mages chamber. Angels in bikinis was a totally new experience for the Boros Legion! Then again I was also out of uniform. We entered the guild mages chamber and asked, "What's up, doc."

The guild mages stared at us like I had grown another head. "What, haven't seen anybody in a swimsuit before?" I just had to ask.

"Umnn, well, no actually..." the head guild mage stammered. "We're not in that much of a hurry if you wish, you can get changed…"

Razia grabbed my arm and led me out into Feather's office. "My Legion does not expect its leaders to show up in _swimwear!_ We DO need to get changed…"

"Ok, Ok! We'll just go aboard the _Parhelion II_ and get our uniforms from our quarters…" And that's what we did. Wearing something more authoritative, we returned to the guild mage's chambers. Feather, and Edana would be waiting for us there.

"I didn't expect your legion to be that prudish…"

"We're the _angelic echelon_, and should act like it," Razia replied.

"Speak for yourself. I'm just a drunken human who happens to be in love with a pair of angels," I said.

Razia just grabbed me and gave me a smooch, a really long smooch, the kind that you really need to come up for air, that kind of smooch. Razia didn't need to breath here, on Ravnica. But _I_ did. When she finally relented I said, "Ok, Ok, I give! Let me breathe!"

"Going to behave?" Razia asked.

"Yes, yes!" I looked at Sara, who was trying not to laugh…

"We are in uniform, are we not?"

"Red and white tunics. Our Legions' colours," Sara finally responded. She was in tears, trying not to laugh at me. Then she couldn't hold it in anymore. The three of us burst into uncontrolled laughter just outside of the guild mages chambers. When we finally came to our senses, we entered the chamber, both in uniform and a more solemn mood.

"All right, what's so important that you had to drag us away from our sailing trip?" At this time Razia had decided to put on her 'angry face'. She was actually enjoying our outing…

"You'd better see for yourself…" The head guild mage stated. He had brought up a scene on our main viewer. As I mentioned previously, the guild mages chamber now looked more like the bridge of a star ship than anything else…

We were looking at the Utvara spaceport. There was a Cardassian freighter there, but coming into landing were a trio of D-8 K'tinga class warships.

"So, there's Klingons in the quadrant," I off-handedly remarked.

"Don't they bother you?" The guild mage asked.

"Nope, not at all. The Klingons are welcome here. That's Teysa's spaceport, and there's nothing we can do about it," I answered. "If that's all you dragged us back here for…" I wondered if Razia would mind if I shot one of her guild mages. It turned out that there was something more.

"This ship landed two days ago. We believe it to be Romulan…" the guild mage stated. "I know you would want to be brought up to date on them."

OK, now you have my undivided attention. A Romulan freighter is interesting news. How about we know what it's carrying…the screen zoomed in.

"Crates of weapons. Lots of crates of weapons," I told Razia. "Somebody was getting a shit-load of weapons, and I'll bet it's the Dimir."

"So, somebody is equipping an army, and it isn't my Legion." Razia surmised.

"Fun times ahead…" Sara quipped.

"It looks like hammer duty just got a little tougher," Razia mentioned.

"I don't think that they're equipping people with disruptor rifles, just to shoot at your Minotaurs. With that kind of firepower, the targets would be-"

Razia put a finger to my lips. "Lets not go there again. I can't have you nuking the entire planet."

"Only the chosen ones are spared," I quipped.

"Do I need to kiss you again?" Razia responded with.

"Nope, quite all right, never mind…" I backed off with.

* * *

Pivlic's rebuilt tavern, what's this? Round three? But like the phoenix, it keeps rising from the ashes of its last incarnation. This time it was situated under the deflector shield that protected Teysa's newly built manor house. Besides, this is where the angels hook up with the other mortals of the Boros Legion. And of course it's where I found some of the best bumbat on the planet. So here I was, back at Pivlic's, having a few brewskis. Pivlic was beaming about his newest iteration of his bar.

Pivlic pulls a weapon from under the bar. "Check this out," he tells me.

"A modern disruptor rifle, of Romulan manufacture," I identified. "Do you know how to use it?"

"Ah so you know its origin. Good. And yes it came with an instruction manual. There was a ship here last week that brought a whole shipload of these things. Unfortunately the Orzhov only bought half of the cargo…" Pivlic trailed off.

_So, the Orzhov had bought up half of that freighter's supply. Maybe it was a run on speculation after all_, I thought. "Is that all the freighter brought?" I had to ask.

"Nope. They brought these heavy weapons emplacements as shown here," Pivlic replied, while bringing up a file on a Romulan PADD. They have on offer anything in this catalogue," Pivlic responded.

Apparently the Romulans were willing to deal with anybody that they could. "Mind if I go shopping?" I asked Pivlic.

"Of course not. I soon expect the Orzhov to have an exclusive contract with the Romulans for small arms sales here on Ravnica."

_We'll see about that._

As I was going over the 'catalogue' of Romulan goods, Razia and Teysa had entered Pivlic's. When Teysa saw me reading the PADD, she shot Pivlic a look. I noticed.

"Hey, just because Relar and me have a feud going on, doesn't mean either I or the Boros isn't interested in their hardware. I'm an independent Rim-Worlder, remember," I reminded Teysa.

"That's right, you work for…" Teysa said as she turned to Razia.

"Even I believe in being cost effective," Razia mentioned. "To me mana-less technology is mana-less technology. Whatever works for the least amount of Zinos."

"Since when did the angels of Ravnica become concerned with Zinos?" Teysa asked.

"Since Feather became the richest angel, and one of the richer persons on this planet. Since our rescue, the Boros angels have become much more involved in the affairs of mortals," Razia paused to give me an embrace.

The fullness of our relationship finally dawned on Teysa. Apparently no one here on Ravnica outside of our inner circle realized the full extent of the bonding between the 'star ship crew' and the Boros Angels. At this time the cat was out of the bag, but Szadek had already realized this by now.

"You know, allies such as the pair of you … wait. The _three_ of you, could be mutually beneficial to me, as I am as much at odds with my own syndicate," Teysa admitted. She was willing to disclose her weakness while she figured out that Sara was just as involved. "By the way where is Sara?" Teysa concluded as she parsed out the relationship.

"Funny you should ask that," Razia stated, as she pointed towards the entrance to Pivlic's. As everyone in here turned towards the doors, Sara made a grand entrance, walked up to us and gave me a smooch. Sara was the 'smoochier' one of the two angels. "By the way Teysa and I made a deal to put a Boros garrison here in town."

"Cool. Why not? This place could use some policing, and who best to provide that?" I questioned.

"But that's not all," Razia replied. "This garrison will have a few new features."

"Like what?" I had to ask.

"Like an office for the guild Parun and entourage, while the garrison sits on Boros property, under the Orzhov shields…"

"But the only property here would be –"

"Exactly. That's where the garrison will be built," Razia replied. Razia had effectively booked the land for Kos'/my house for the garrison. Not that I really minded, as the garrison would be reinforced, have a Boros office and quarters for us, as well as a landing pad for the Newton. It would also be built on bedrock after the Romulans cleaned up the crater. We would end up having to train the Boros recruits with disruptor rifles, of course…

Pivlic piped up, "Will you be staying for dinner?"

"Of course," Razia replied.

"Since when do angels eat dinner?" Teysa was now incredulous.

"Since we have bonded with our mortals, or when we are stuck in the mana-less universe," Razia replied. "If you take your angels of despair for a long enough trip into that universe, you will have to train them to eat, drink, and sleep, as they won't have a mana source to draw upon. And in case you didn't know, all the Boros angels now draw a salary from the guild, and have our affairs handled by…"

"Pivlic," Teysa concluded.

"Of course," Razia responded.

Teysa shot Pivlic another look. Pivlic just shrugged. It's always Pivlic, that slippery imp. He had made Feather rich with just 22 years of a constables pay, while the angels decided as officers of the guild to take an officers salary – specifically, the same wages as a guild-mage, the top humans of the Boros Guild. It was "all good", and Pivlic would be the one to invest the angels' funds ethically while 'growing their wealth' as he did for Feather. In fact, Pivlic had pioneered the idea of 'ethical investing' thanks to the angels. _I also bet he has pioneered 'unethical investing' for those darker guilds…_

"Mind if I join you?" Teysa asked.

"Not at all! Please…" Razia responded. "You are effectively our host here in Utvara, but expect some 'looks' from the locals…"

"Not a problem," Teysa replied. "In any case, it will give my subjects the official stamp of approval of the Boros angels' presence here…"

"Why thank you!" I responded with. "If they get used to our presence then maybe your reclamation zone will grow to embrace the Orzhov and the Boros as partners…"

"Works for me," Razia replied. _That was shocking_, I thought.

"Why not? As allies, we can take on the entire planet! It will also show the other guilds that we can work together," Teysa concluded. _Oops. An Orzhov friend of the Boros! That's new, but not unwelcome,_ I thought. With the Boros helping the Selesnya Conclave during the deca-millenium, we could also rely on that guild to help out when needed. Their "Ledev" patrollers fill in the gap where the Boros (Wojek actually) miss on this planet. Now it was only a matter of time when the Boros absorbed the hazzda patrollers into the Wojeks…

* * *

A new day dawned over the streets of Ravnica. Time to get up and go to work. Donning some light armour and some specialized equipment I was headed back into the under city. Only Kos was joining me on this trip.

"So, what are we up to today?" Kos asked.

"Spying on the spies," I replied. "I want to get a really good look at Duskmantle."

"I thought you enjoyed life!"

"I'm not going to be walking right up to it. I'm not even getting as close as to where Nergat tunnelled under the lake. That's what this is for," I replied as I handed over the power scanners.

"So where are we headed?" Kos was checking out the power scanner.

"As shallow into the under city as I can get. Remember the smuggling ring you busted under the restaurant? Lets just say that the restaurant has a few basements under it, and one has a balcony."

"You know they might not be willing to give you permission to wander around their basement," Kos warned.

"Who said I was asking?" I patted my phaser on my hip. Kos looked at the phaser rifle he was carrying and gave me a wicked grin…

* * *

I was looking out over a vast open cavern in the under city. Duskmantle was at the other end of the cavern, surrounded by its moat, a really BIG moat … actually a small lake. "In a space where there is no room, in a structure that was never built, meets the guild that doesn't exist," I muttered.

"Well, actually they don't," Kos, corrected.

"I'm not following you."

"The Dimir are not a guild anymore. The new guild pact just has the nine guilds," Kos stated.

"But I'm still looking at this guild hall which is currently being fitted with disruptor emplacements. And in that building a ghost-vampire with a hate on for my angels is scheming away. And he's been doing it for longer than the likes of you and me-"

CRACKLE-WUMP!

A blast of green plasma erupted out of the hatch to this basement level.

"Time to go!" Kos and I stepped into the triangle of three devices while I flipped a switch on the first. Blue beams of light surrounded us inside a blue triangle and the flash and metallic scream of the transporters whisked us away. "Now you know why having an extra stun grenade handy is SOP," I said as we left the transporter room for the bridge of the _Parhelion II_.

* * *

We had put the scans up on the main viewer.

"Well, we won't have to worry about those disruptor emplacements," I mentioned.

"What do you mean by that?" Razia asked as she entered the bridge with Sara.

"Well, take a look at them. Those are going into permanent mountings in a defensive position. They're being designed to cover both the surface and possible subsurface access to Duskmantle. They are there to keep us out. I think that waltzing into Szadek's basement actually scared him, especially stealing his trophies."

"Good."

Sara added after studying the scan, "but there are still 5 or 6 artillery pieces unaccounted for, if Pivlic's manifest is correct."

"Those are the ones that should worry the Ordruun," Razia mentioned.

"I'd be more worried by the weapons that we don't know about, like what happened to the other ordnance the Z-17's were carrying. Right now there are exactly 3 places on the planet somewhat immune to antimatter weapons and Centerfort isn't one of them," I mentioned. The impulse reactor and shield system hadn't even been ordered, considering the trouble with the installation here at Sunhome. A 4-story temple and the four observation posts had to be re-purposed, and running the plasma conduit and keeping it from leaking is an ongoing nightmare. Sunhome was not designed to run plasma conduits through! And of course, convincing the Izzet to cut straight-line paths, and to rework the barracks around them would not make sense, so we had to kick them out and bring in a team from Wa-Lu. The new vertical shafts will be easy to make – I'll just get Nergat to make them! As soon as we iron out Sunhome's shields we will retrofit Centerfort. Edana will have to keep the _Edison's_ reactors hot, and keep using the quarters onboard.

* * *

As I walked through the ship, I came about a pile of burnt feathers, just outside the Jeffries tube to the warp drive. The first thing I did was to call Toki.

"Captain to sickbay," I announced into my communicator.

"Caladea is fine," Toki replied. "She just got 'zorched' by the plasma field and lost quite a few feathers. They'll grow back. Caladea will just have to look like a chicken until then…"

Uh oh. I could see the ribbing that was about to commence…

I ordered my crew to be on their professional best when dealing with injured angels. Since they were bonded, the mortals had a vested interest in making sure their angels weren't offended. Something about being slapped silly by your mate for being offensive to their sister…

And since Parna was Caladea's mate I wasn't too worried. Parna was as protective as I was about his angel. I walked into sickbay …

… And man, Caladea did look like a plucked chicken – at least her upper left wing did.

"What did I say about not walking into the engines when they are running?"

"I didn't think I was that close to it!" She exclaimed. "This will take weeks to grow back!"

I was more worried about the burns in the wing-flesh. Then Parna entered sickbay, and came to a dead stop when he saw Caladea. He embraced her gingerly.

"I'm not made out of glass you know!"

"But … doesn't that _hurt_?" Parna had to ask.

"It burns a little, but that won't stop us," Caladea replied, while giving Parna a huge smooch.

"Yup, she's fine," I said to no one in particular. Caladea heard, and just gave me a wink...

* * *

It was a fine day on Ravnica's oceans. The _Enola Gay_ was slicing through the waters of the deep. Both Sara and Razia looked _absolutely stunning_ in bikinis. Their wings were free and both angels enjoyed the rather elemental experience of sailing a yacht on the open seas. We were about three days out of port, and in deep waters. The scanners promised fair weather, and we were just enjoying the elemental feel of the water under the keel, and the air passing through our sails (and their wings). And _this time_, I had left explicit instructions that we were NOT to be bothered unless Sunhome itself was attacked. I still had the song playing, "_It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been. We got your message on the radio, conditions normal and you're coming home._" This time both angels knew the meaning of the song and appreciated it for it's worth. We embraced each other while the stars revealed themselves "one star at a time" and the evening was quiet. My pair of angels, Sara and Razia, made sure that this evening was one that I wouldn't forget…

* * *

I woke up alone in the cabin. _That is rather unusual these days!_ I stepped out of the cabin to find myself alone on the boat. I returned to the cabin and picked up a phaser, communicator, and my trusty tricorder. I left the cabin again and did a horizon to horizon visual scan before starting a scan with the tricorder. I then called the Parhelion. Caladea was on the bridge, and took the call.

"Caladea! Can you locate Sara and Razia? They're not on board!" I exclaimed.

She had picked up on the tone of my voice. "Running the scans myself!" Caladea replied.

"OK, they are about 15 kilometers out and 10 up … and they are running from … a sky swallower!" Caladea exclaimed.

"Beam then to this ship," I ordered.

There was a couple of flashes in the sky, the there were two flashes in the sky about 100 meters from the boat. Both Sara and Razia were moving too fast to avoid the water. Both of them splashed down beside the _Enola Gay_ and surfaced a moment later. You wouldn't believe how much a water soaked angel weighed when you were pulling them out of the water! It took a minute to pluck angels out of the water with their water soaked wings.

Now about that sky swallower. The Enola Gay sported both a structural integrity field as well as a deflector shield. The armament was, however, a mark-42 phaser rifle and grenade launcher. In about 5 minutes we were about to find out how tough a sky swallower really is. It was still closing on the ship as the angels pointed out that it was the toughest creature on this planet.

So.

I didn't care. I had the firepower to deal with anything even if I only carried a mark 42 with grenade launcher. But then again, a good plasma grenade would take out any creature less than 250 meters in length – about the size of a sky swallower. And if that wasn't enough, I had a secret weapon in my stash of grenades …

Boom – boom. Two grenades and the sky swallower became bits and pieces of flesh raining down on the ocean.

"OK, what other critters inhabit this planet, and what do I need to know about them?" I asked of Razia.

"Grozoth and autochthon wurm come to mind," She looked embarrassed. "Normally there isn't anything that we can't deal with except a sky swallower, or the Simic version! But what if those plasma grenades didn't work?"

I held up another grenade. "Read this puppy!" I exclaimed. The grenade read: Grenade – antimatter – 5 KT. Minimum ranges – 1 km.

"Ouch. That's bigger than my purification spell," Razia stated.

"Yup. And in case you're wondering, the form factor for grenades has been the 12 gauge shot shell for the last two millennium," I explained. "Speaking of your spell, why didn't you just nuke the thing?"

Razia held up the diminutive grenade. "I couldn't! There's no land out here to draw enough mana from to cast such a powerful spell. I never really spent time on the ocean before your arrival. It's almost as mana-less as Agyrem"

"Besides, what in the world made you leave me this morning?" I queried.

"We just had an early morning fly!" Sara responded.

"We didn't expect to be chased around the planet by a sky swallower!" Razia interjected. "We expected to be back before you woke up!"

"But thanks for that rescue," Sara chimed in with. "That creature is BIG, and mean!" Sara looked at Razia.

"Hey! There are not that many sky-swallowers around! Why this one decided to pick on us angels …" Razia responded with.

"How about it was trained to attack angels when encountered," I replied. "You never know who had access to such a creature, and I trust no one!" I finally responded with.

"You don't think …"

"Unfortunately I do!' I responded with.

"But he wouldn't …" Razia trailed off.

"Wanna bet? I won't give up on Szadek until either he or I am pushing up daisies!"

Razia just gave me a hug. Then Sara joined the embrace. "Right. You're almost as devious as Szadek. If you keep being our shields, then he won't be able to take out the angels…"

"That's the point! Did I mention-"

"Nobody gets one of your angels," both Razia and Sara finished.

"Nobody!


	3. Little Lies

**3: LITTLE LIES**

I was alone in the runabout. It sucked! But the message was clear – 'come alone – no angels!' and I wasn't about to give up an opportunity to find out what gives, just in case. The _Edison_ was heading deep into the pocket universe that was Ravnica. This universe's radius was all of 50 parsecs, and at least it was closed. But the ship sliced effortlessly through the dark at warp 9, crossing a parsec every 6 hours. Thus any point in this pocket universe was within 13 days of Ravnica at these speeds. Before I set out on this solo journey I had set the _Parhelion II_ on a new mission. That way, she wouldn't be getting in my way for this mission. I knew that Razia wouldn't let me do this trip without her, so I had to devise another mission for the _Parhelion II._ The angels were on a 'secret mission' of their own. The _Parhelion II_ had left through the rift to the mana-less universe …

… And I snuck out in a shuttle pod just before they crossed the rift …

* * *

I was closing on the coordinates. I didn't think that there were other inhabited planets in this dimension, but then again the angels had headed into deep space only twice. Once they explored a distant system, and a second time to the edge of the universe to find Agyrem. It wasn't until the Izzet created the schism that they went into Agyrem and fell into Szadek's trap.

I was approaching a system containing planetary bodies, one in the right orbit to be class M.

It wasn't, being a class H desert world. Scanners indicated a powered object in orbit. Being alone in the _Edison_, I was not about to just waltz up to it either. I plotted a course to take me to the other side of the planet from that object. I also had a probe armed in the torpedo launcher. It was going around to scan the object first – If I didn't like what I saw I was bugging out the way I came in!

* * *

As soon as I had my data, I was really puzzled. Just _who_ placed that object _there_? I even brought my probe back around to check it out before sending it back around for another look. Nope, I was definitely looking at an ancient, primitive, derelict space station. In the middle of nowhere, orbiting an H class planet whose top life form were scrappy desert plants. According to the scan of the fading nuclear power supply, the station was a couple of millennia old. What was worse was that it looked like it had a few visits from scavengers some time in the past. Time to swing around the planet, one finger still poised over the impulse control, and another over the torpedo fire button. Nothing, and hailing frequencies were open. Then it hit me, and I switched over to RF. As I was scanning the radio bands, my probe was drifting ever closer to the station, passive scanners still operating.

The speaker crackled to life. "I have a proposal for you." I didn't recognize the voice, but I found the frequency, way down in the short-wave spectrum. A rather unusual frequency for space communication!

"Al right, state your piece," I replied to the voice.

"Give me the Boros angels and I will give you Ravnica, forever."

"You wasted two weeks of my time for this?" I was getting steamed. I might just blow up the station for its occupant's insolence!

"Reason it out! You will get what, 1000 years with the angels? 2000? I'm offering you IMMORTALITY! Complete timeless immortality! As in forever…" the voice replied. "You would rule over the entire planet until the end of time!"

"So what's in it for you?" I was still sceptical.

"The survival of my species. The presence of the Boros will bring extinction to my race."

"The last time I checked being Dimir wasn't being a species!" I was about to sign off and leave. _What a waste of a month's travel time_.

"I'm not Dimir, I'm Golgari!" The voice said. "And I'm not a zombie. Living forever as a zombie would be just as tasteless as living with the angels. The Golgari have been exploring this multiverse, quietly, for millennia. We built this station over 2000 years ago. We had to do it quietly, for the angels would have forbidden us to share the heavens with them."

"Just who are you?" I finally had to ask.

"I cannot show you unless you accept my offer."

I just hit the impulse controls, and left the planet behind. I retrieved my probe just before the hyper wall, and downloaded its data while I was heading back to Ravnica. Warp 12. I had wasted enough time.

* * *

The 8-day trip back was uneventful. I landed the _Edison_ on the roof of Centerfort, shut her down and headed over to Pivlic's in the shuttle pod. The _Parhelion II_ was on her usual perch atop Sunhome. I figured that I had about 15 minutes…

I sat at the bar with my back to the wall, facing the entrance. Pelvic was about to give me a bumbat when I asked, "You wouldn't happen to have some Romulan Ale?"

"Funny you should ask that. I'm trying it out …" Pelvic brings out a large bottle of blue liquid. I just took the bottle and then took a big slug from it. "Whoa! What's the hurry?"

"I plan on being totally blotto when the angels get here and slap me silly," I replied.

"Oh, right. You snuck out on your own. Razia and Sara really missed you. Do you think that they will slap you silly?"

"The 'Archangel of War'?" I asked.

"I see your point," Pivlic concluded.

An angel entered the Imp's Wing. It was Feather. I decided not to stun her…

… Good thing too. She came over to me, yanked me off the chair and gave me a big smooch. "This is from Razia and Sara. They are _NOT_ going to slap you silly! But you do need to return to the _Parhelion_…" Feather stated.

"… OK …." I took one last swig of Romulan Ale, and then beamed aboard the _Parhelion II_ with Feather. Both Sara and Razia were waiting in the transporter room. Sure enough my angels were more worried than mad. After a double hug and smooch, I said, "sorry about that, but the message did say 'come alone', and I felt that it might really be important!"

"Was it?" Both Sara and Razia asked.

"NO! I wasted three weeks of my life! Here, listen to this!" I placed a data chip in the console and replayed back my brief conversation.

"Bullshit!" Was the word that Razia said. "We have never restricted the exploration of the heavens!"

"I don't recognize the voice though," Feather stated.

"Neither did I. Could it actually be a Golgari?" I had to ask.

"Actually … yes," Razia answered. "I can't place it, but it _IS_ familiar …"

"And I thought you had an eidetic memory!" I interjected.

'Hey! It takes a bit of time to sift through 12 millennia of memories! Give me time, and I'll figure it out," Razia admonished.

"But there's a new player on the board," I stated. "And he seems to have just as big a hate on for my angels as Szadek. That puts him firmly into the 'enemy' category, regardless of who he is. If I find him, he will definitely get a new idea of what time-less means!"

"Thank you for that," Razia stated as we embraced.

"Like I expect you to turn your back on us that easily," Sara mentioned. "Who does he think he was talking to?"

"I bet a typical greedy human, someone who didn't have the rescuing gene in the first place!"

Another double angel hug. I managed out for their best interests, even at some personal risk. But that _WAS_ the point! By now every Ravnican angel knew my motto: Nobody gets one of my angels, nobody! Anything less and I would be remiss in my duties. Both Sara and Razia appreciated the risk I took in investigating the strange message, even though we didn't figure out who was behind it … yet.

* * *

I woke up in my quarters on the _Parhelion II_. Both Sara and Razia were wrapped around me this morning. I think both of them really missed me, and weren't about to let me go. But that's a good thing, as I wasn't in the doghouse with my angels. In fact, my angels appreciated the risk I took on their behalf! Even though I snuck out on this mission…

* * *

I was alone on the bridge of the _'Helion_. I also was sitting at the tactical station. A small Klingon-designed shuttle had just crossed the warp wall, coming in on a heading that led to the H-class planet. Its scanner image matched the data taken from the derelict space station…

* * *

Razia entered the guild mage's chambers. "What is _so_ important?"

"Somebody has taken control of our satellites!" The head guild mage pointed to the view screens. Sure enough the scanners indicated that the satellites were turned around and were pointed outward. They were tracking a small shuttle coming into orbit from the far side of Ravnica. As soon as the shuttle broke over the horizon, a beam lashed out, destroying it. The origin of the beam was obvious, as the chamber reverberated with the sound of a phaser being fired. Then the satellites turned around and control was restored.

"There. Stephen needed the tracking. Next time check with the _Parhelion."_

"Yes, holiest," the guild mage replied.

* * *

Both Sara and Razia entered the bridge of the star ship. I was still at the tactical station. "Scratch one Golgari Vampire," Razia mentioned.

I had put up the scanner image of the shuttle. An 'object' had dropped from the shuttle towards the surface of Ravnica from the destroyed shuttle. "Ouch. If he had enough mana he would have survived the destruction of the shuttle," Razia mentioned.

"That's what 'shoot on sight' orders are for," I mentioned.

"Who has shoot on sight orders?" Razia had to ask.

"The Ordruun. We have two platoons, one equipped with phaser rifles, and one equipped with disruptor rifles. We found an image of Endara in the Azorius archives, and passed it on," I replied.

"As you would say … COOL!" That was the word that Razia ended the conservation with.

"How about we use this ship for what it was designed for?"

"And what's that?" Sara interjected.

"Space exploration and combat. How about we take on an exploration and mapping mission to a certain H-class planet, give you and Pense some targeting practice and then map another route back?"

* * *

There was excitement brewing amongst the angels and companions. The original _Parhelion_ had only ventured out into this universe twice. The first was a trip to another planet, while the second was to the edge of the universe where they found Agyrem. Both trips took years with the impulse engine the _Parhelion_ was equipped with. The _Parhelion II's_ trip was scheduled to take only about 3 months.

The ship was being provisioned, the Azorius were informed, and the _Parhelion II_ leapt into the sky.

* * *

The first three weeks were uneventful. Although many stars had planets, none supported higher life forms so far, until we came across a Class-M orbiting a late G star. The lush wilderness was a contrast to the cityscapes of Ravnica. However, the dominant species wasn't an unknown to the angels of Ravnica, being goblins.

"Goblins are the top of the heap here? Talk about beam me up Scotty there's no intelligent life down here," I mentioned, to no one in particular.

"Hey, what about Crixizix!" Feather admonished.

Razia jabbed me in the ribs again. "And what about the Goblins who the Boros have touched with the skills of a soldier?"

"Didn't you also say that they were untamed, wild and idiotic?"

"Well, yes actually. You do have a point," Razia acquiesced.

"Uh folks," it was Sara at the ops console. "You had better take a look at this!"

Sara brought up a view on the main screen. These were no ordinary goblins at all! There was a _star ship_ under construction, and the goblins were definitely doing the construction.

"OK, that just changes my world-view. Thanks!" I admitted. Sure enough, there was a star ship under construction. However, the haphazard method of construction was puzzling. Most of the scaffolding surrounding the ship was primitive wood and the welders also appeared to be primitive and magically powered. The ship, however, was properly being built with the proper materials. How they were refined is still a mystery.

* * *

"All right folks, we have a mystery to solve," I stated. We were in the briefing room. Just like the good 'ol days this is where I would bounce ideas off of my crew. But this time the crew consisted of 90 angels and 90 companions, so not your usual mix were here! There was John, Nergat, Sara, Toki, K'Tee, Maya, Brent, and myself from the original _Faraway Quest_. Then there were also Razia, Calrea, Pense, and Necia here. "I'll tell you what I know. The ship being built down there is a _Daedalus_ class exploration cruiser, an old Federation design."

"What generation is it?" Razia asked. She was knowledgeable about star ships to determine that that was the primary quality with regards to fighting capacity.

"It's actually only second generation," John replied. "Not a real threat to a ship such as this one."

"That's true," Sara contributed. "I have scanned her and she is being built to the stock plans. In combat she'd last about 5 seconds against us. It is a de-militarized version of the _Comet_ class light cruiser built at the end of the Romulan war, for exploration."

"That's a top end of warp 4, about 8 lasers and 3 missile tubes," John added.

"Lasers?" Razia had to ask.

"Primitive beam weapon, precursor to the phaser," I added.

"I see. So what are they planning on doing with such a ship?" Razia questioned.

"We don't know. We will have to find out from the architects of its construction. But it would be a perfectly capable explorer of Ravnica's mana-verse, if it weren't for the presence of more powerful star ships on Ravnica itself," I finished.

"So someone, with access to Federation star ship plans, has decided to get this group of goblins to build them an exploration ship." Razia concluded.

"That's about it."

"So what next?" Sara asked.

"We get a good night's sleep and send a recon party to the surface tomorrow. They aren't going anywhere for a while. That ship has been building for about a decade at least," I concluded.

"About 9.5 years according to my scans," Pense quipped.

"See, no hurry," I got up from the table and grabbed Sara around the waist. "See you tomorrow," I ended with. By the time I reached the corridor, Razia had me on one side, while Sara had me on the other. I was flown back to our quarters!

* * *

"You're loving this!" Razia mentioned to me the next morning. "You haven't been out exploring in a while!"

"Of course he is!" Sara had to mention. "We did this for 5 years before retiring to Ravnica. What did you expect?"

"I didn't really know!" Razia exclaimed. "We only met briefly, where Stephen rescued me from his mana-less universe and returned me to Ravnica. Even though we became lovers, we were only together briefly before Szadek's attack. Our biggest achievement together was your rescue!" Razia finished with.

"… I see. Thank you and now I understand Stephen's obsession in rescuing you in Agyrem. It is the life link isn't it?" Sara queried.

"Yes it is. Stephen is our link and both our saviour." Razia concluded.

Both angels looked at me. I just shrugged my shoulders, and said; "Now you know why I love you both and need you both…"

That meant we were delayed leaving our quarters for another hour…

* * *

I entered the briefing room with both Razia and Sara at my side. All of the other folks from last night were there. "Alright who want's to go down to the surface?"

Everyone had his or her hand up.

"OK, look. We're sending down a recon party, not invading the planet!"

John piped up, "Well, you know that the commanding officer and the Guild Parun should stay aboard the ship…"

"And where in your Rim World regulations would you find mention of Guild Paruns?" Razia demanded.

"Well, your status of Parun would make you flag rank and wouldn't be risked on an away team," John countered.

"Unfortunately he's right," I mentioned. "The top echelon usually doesn't make up an away team – unless,"

Razia caught on to my exception, "unless what?"

"Unless the mission really requires the flag officers to intervene. In this case since we are looking at an unusual case of goblins building a starship, flag officers should not be involved as the decisions that we take will involve the entire legion. A fact finding mission is needed first," I rebuffed. I was good at this; I'll have to admit.

"But that means –"

"Rank has its privileges!" I mentioned.

"But the-"

"No. I'm still captain of this ship, so unless you plan on firing me, my orders are to be followed."

"That's not going to happen," Razia replied.

"The survey party will consist of: Maya as science officer, Tony as security officer, Pense and John as technical advisors, and K'Tee and Nergat as translation and backup as necessary. Yes the flag members will be staying aboard, as they are too valuable to send into a possible hostile environment, BUT nobody here is expendable. You all will take care to make sure that you all return safely! Is that clear!"

"Absolutely!" Was the reply from the briefing room. I got my point across. Even if I'm not going myself, I didn't want any unnecessary incidents.

* * *

The away team had spent a day approaching the 'under construction' ship. They faced no strange events, as the goblins involved were busy working on building and installing the parts of the ship. The team itself was an interesting mix: one angel, one horta, one caitian, one psychon, and two humans. Although I'm not going, the away team is a competent crew who will get the answers we need. The transporter beamed the team down and I awaited their reports

"You should have let us go down there," Razia stated.

"Actually no. If we are going to have confidence in our crew members, then we need to let them go and do their jobs, and not micromanage them as if they are our children!"

"But what if they encounter something-"

"That's what's personal judgment is for. When we build a starship crew, each individual knows what their function is. Thus each crewmember knows what's expected and the risks associated. They know the risks, and do what they can to mitigate them. Yes, there is risk, but that is what exploration is about. When I first shot you down, I took the risk of bringing you into the auto-doc and fixing the damage I'd caused. It turned out to be the best thing I did…"

That got me a smooch on the bridge. Razia realized that we all knew our jobs – not just the angels! The companions were just as capable as the angels! Not expected, but that was the situation. It turned out that there was an intrinsic reason for the angel bonding. The bonded humanoids of the mana-less universe were as capable as any being with mana. We were _all_ able companions!

"Then the Azorius is going to have to get used to the _Parhelion II_ being missing on occasion," Razia stated.

"Well things _have_ quieted down on Ravnica'" Feather mentioned.

"Besides, we're not responsible for the safety of the entire planet!" Razia exclaimed. I guess she was getting tired of everyone else's expectations.

"Did the first _Parhelion_ usually stay on top of Sunhome?" I asked.

"Only about a third of the time. But then we were at full complement and stayed mostly in the skies of Ravnica. The people could call on the angels from time to time. It was only unavailable 3 times in its existence, twice while on explorations of this universe, and when it was trapped in Agyrem," Razia explained.

Feather interrupted from the communications panel. "The away team just checked in. They are scouting the site before deciding to make contact."

"See," I said.

If Razia was embarrassed in any way she hid it well. The look on her face said _your point?_

"But yes, the Azorius will just have to get used to the angels disappearing from time to time," I continued our original conversation.

"Yes, we will be exploring this universe, and I suspect, your mana-less universe as well. I must admit, this _has_ been fun, even if we aren't in the thick of things. The Boros angels have a new exploration role." Razia finally turned red. "The willingness to explore is what trapped us in Agyrem, but I don't think that will be a problem now with our companions…"

We just embraced for what seemed an eternity.

"That's what the Federation built starships for. Even this ship, an attack cruiser, has exploration facilities. That's part of the human condition, even more than making war!"

"So this is what you did, in your mana-less universe?"

"Yes it is. And no, I didn't always go with the away team. I am responsible for the whole ship, and nobody-"

"Gets one of your angels," Razia concluded, with a hug and smooch.

* * *

The away team _did_ find a person responsible for the goblins, a hooded figure dressed in blue with sigils across his clothing. They decided to make contact.

"Who are you?" The blue figure asked.

"We are from the _Parhelion II_. Perhaps we can be of help-"

"Silence! There will be no interference with the evolution of these goblins!" With that the blue-robed figure disappeared.

* * *

A blue robed figure appeared in our engine room. I was with Caladea checking up when he arrived.

A blue beam sprang from the individual's fingertips and engulfed our warp core. That's when I drew my phasers and started firing. The beams had no effect. The two angels fired phaser beams also had no effect, but I did attract the attention of that being. A blue beam engulfed me, and when I came to … _Baby feathers? _I thought. "Caladea?" She helped me to my feet.

"I had to eject the warp core to save the ship," Caladea answered. It brought tears to her eyes.

"Listen, it's not the end of the world. Bridge!" I ordered.

"The _Daedalus_ class has left the system!" Sara responded. "We can't go after it in our condition."

"I'll be up there in a minute," I replied.

* * *

I entered the bridge, and took up my center seat. Both Sara and Razia were waiting for me.

"We have lost our warp drive," Razia stated.

"Only temporarily," I replied. "We have a spare warp core in cargo bay 2. In fact we have 2 spare warp cores in cargo bay 2…"

"Figures!" Sara responded. "You are that paranoid!"

I just smiled.

"But now we have a planes walker to kill," Razia replied.

'Well, I don't know if I'd go that far," I replied.

"Why not? He attacked you!" Razia exclaimed.

"Listen, we didn't come all this way to greet old enemies and make new ones!"

"But we can't just let this pass!"

"Who said anything about letting this pass?" I pressed the intercom. "Caladea, I need you to go to cargo bay 2 and install one of our spare warp cores."

Caladea was shocked. "We have a spare warp core?"

"Two actually."

"Sometimes your paranoia does come in handy," Caladea replied.

I turned to Razia, "we should be underway in about 6 hours."

* * *

I awoke to both my angels again. A quick check to the bridge, and we were underway down the trajectory that the _Daedalus_ cruiser took. Another quick check to engineering and Caladea was beaming about her install of the new warp core. She apparently pulled an all-nighter with the engineering crew to make sure the install was complete. Brent and Marie were sleeping it off, as Caladea sent them to bed after helping out. Time to have breakfast and to get to the bridge.

The advantage of chasing after a gen-2 ship was its top end of warp 4. It hasn't reached its destination yet, while we could be there before it got there. We activated our cloak and were waiting for its arrival.

* * *

As soon as the other ship dropped into the next system we planted a volley of torpedoes into it, crippling it.

"We are being hailed," K'Tee stated.

"Ignore the hail, but hold your fire," I replied.

"What are you doing?" Razia asked.

"Making a planes walker sweat. Remember I'm not going to let this just pass," I mentioned.

A moment later, and K'Tee said, "Now an individual is hailing us."

"On screen."

A blue robed figure appeared. "Can we discuss this?"

"You attacked us!" Razia exclaimed. "Why shouldn't we just kill you now?" Razia winked at me. I smiled, while Sara clued in about my first exchange with an angel. She refrained from laughing.

"Unm, I thought you had come to stop the goblins from their enlightenment! I didn't know…"

"Listen pal, you need to come aboard and explain yourself. If you can convince me I may just be able to convince the Boros angels…"

"The _BOROS ANGELS_ are on board? I am definitely at your disposal…"

There was a blue robed figure in my briefing room. I regarded him coolly. "I'm Fleet captain Michael, owner of the _Parhelion II_ and angels companion."

"Yes and my apologies! I didn't believe your landing party, and wanted to prevent you from attacking my goblins. They are just beginning to evolve out of their state and into enlightenment. I didn't mean any harm! I just wanted to prevent you from destroying them?"

"Why didn't you think our away teams offer was legit?" I asked

"Because other offers weren't. I have been burned a few times now, and I did trust no one. I'm Jace Bellerin by the way."

"The question now is, how do I keep Razia from taking your head?"

"Razia the Archangel? Is onboard. Oh my, I have a residence on Ravnica and am glad of the Boros presence there! I've pissed off the Parun! I'm sorry! I didn't know. What can I do?"

"Apologize to me directly," Razia said as she entered the room.

Jace went to his knees. "I'm sorry holiest! Please find it in your heart to forgive me! I just wanted to bring my goblins into enlightenment!"

"Well Fleet Captain, what do you think of our wayward planes walker?" Razia bounced the ball into my court.

"I think that if we can put the past behind us, then having a planes walker as an ally that we may call on from time to time…"

Jace regarded me for a minute. "Just like … Elspeth Tirel."

"You know Elspeth?" Both Razia and I asked.

"Yes she rallied a group of planes walkers against Nicol Bolas and the forces of Grixis. That didn't go so well. The last I heard she was going for somebody with a powerful ship … that was you wasn't it?" Jace finished.

"Yes it was. With Stephen Michael, you never know what the future brings." Razia gave me an embrace.

Jace was shocked. "An angel and a mortal – NO! TWO ANGELS! How did you do it?"

"Sorry, that's classified," I answered.

Razia didn't answer either. "Just know this, our original offer of assistance stands. The Boros has enlightened the goblins as well. We are not that unlike after all."

"Yes holiest," Jace replied. "We can be of use to you. If you want, we can update you with our travel logs of this universe."

"That would prevent duplication," I mentioned.

"Yes, place your goblins under the Boros flag if you need to. We can keep an eye on them and provide assistance as needed."

"Thank you, holiest." Jace bowed again.

We beamed him back to the goblins ship, and sent an engineering team over to help fix the damage. By the end of the day there were two fully functional ships in orbit around system '11235', and its class M planet, where the rest of the goblin crew was trained. That ship had about 150-trained goblin as its crew. As well as one planes walker…

* * *

Another message. 'Come alone – no angels!' Yeah right. Like I'm going to waste another month traveling around in a runabout. Besides Edana and Allan had taken the _Edison_ to Wa-Lu for some much-needed maintenance. _We need a shipyard here on Ravnica_. Then I noticed the sigil at the end of the note. It was a blast from the past – Section 31. And the coordinates this time were to a deep space rendezvous only 3 days away. I'd be back in a week.

* * *

It was late as I was closing on the coordinates that I was to meet on, within another day's travel … when I discovered a stowaway.

Feather had sneaked aboard the runabout …

"Feather! The message had sad clearly 'NO ANGELS'. That includes you!

"But I cannot let you risk yourself when you are life-linked to her holiest!" Feather protested. "You've already done this once, but your luck isn't unlimited!"

"Thank you for your concern, but I can handle this!" I stated. "You need to hide!"

"But this evening, let me be with you! Hiding in the bowels of this little ship is somewhat … uncomfortable."

I just looked at her wings. They reminded me of Kos' description of them stuck in lock rings. "All right, spread your wings out tonight. I doubt that you will have to hide long if the next meeting goes as well as the last one," I stated.

* * *

Now just what we faced, as I reached the rendezvous point with Feather with me on the bridge of the runabout. _Fuck 'em_, I thought. _We'll just have to keep it to audio._ It was the moment of truth…

An Aeh'lla class cruiser de-cloaked in front of me, and it was Relar's…

"So you decided to come after all," Relar stated.

"I'm here. What do you want?" I responded with. Apparently the Tal'Shiar had copies of Section 31 sigils…

"Your Boros Legion's days are numbered," he stated.

"Bullshit. By whose army?" I was not in the mood to mince words with Relar.

"Starting with the top!" Relar stated. "The Dimir will be removing any angelic influence on Ravnica, starting with you…"

The Romulan ship had de-cloaked and opened fire on the _Newton_. The shots hit an invisible target between the Romulan and the _Newton_. The _Parhelion II'_s mission was to cover the flight of the _Newton_, just in case. Then the real shooting started. The _Parhelion_ was de-cloaking and opening fire with her phaser cannon. Relar's ship took the hit, the phaser cannon slicing through her shields and carving a hole through her superstructure. Then the phaser pulse guns opened fire as the twin multi-torpedo launchers opened fire. Relar's ship lost many sections of its hull before Relar ordered a retreat.

Surprise! I was traveling with the angels after all! The _Parhelion II_ was shadowing the _Newton_ the whole trip, but the look on Feather's face was priceless.

"You knew!" Feather accused. I just shrugged and tried to look innocent.

I fired up communications. "Kiss your brand new ass goodbye!" I left on Relar's inbox. 'Mess with the best, die like the rest," I left him to contemplate. I docked the _Newton_ to the _Parhelion II_, and walked Feather to the bridge.

"Now we're officially at war with Relar," Razia announced. "Helm, standing orders. If you find his ship shut down again put a spread of torpedoes into it." Razia was angry. Then she gave me a rib-cracking embrace. "Nobody gets my Lover, nobody. Sara excepted of course," Razia grinned as she relented on the squeeze, and saving my ribs.


	4. All Along the Watchtower

**4: ALL ALLONG THE WATCHTOWER**

Back on Ravnica we all were on alert. We are now in a shooting war with Relar's Romulans. Lucky for us angels need no sleep on Ravnica. The _Parhelion II_ was being manned watch on watch by the angels when the companions needed sleep. But then that's how they ran with the first _Parhelion_. But then there were ten times as many angels!

I was on the bridge musing. Even when we were docked to the top of Sunhome, I still took a bridge watch. "I'm just glad that Szadeck didn't run into Relar before we built this ship."

"What makes you say that?" Razia asked.

"How many photons would the first _Parhelion_ take?" I queried back.

"The first one or two would probably have vaporized it. And I was having angelic escorts flying wing. Relar would have burned them down with his disruptors – which wouldn't be set on stun!"

"And our life link would do nothing to stop the carnage…"

"At least we now have both Sunhome and Centerfort shielded," Pense mentioned. "I just wonder what those four extra plasma conduits are for?"

"Sunhome is going to be armed," I answered. "The four slab sides of the building are each being fitted with a Type 22 phaser strip."

"But the only thing big enough to mount a type 22 is Space dock!"

"And how tall is Sunhome?" I asked.

"Tall enough to mount one vertically," Razia interjected. "But where are we going to get the power for something that big?"

"Our new antimatter reactor," I replied.

"Our … new … antimatter … reactor?" Razia was definitely shocked. I was actually going to be storing antimatter, on the ground, in a ten-millennium old building.

"And how do you safety that antimatter containment?"

"The pods have a ground based ejection system built into them. A tractor beam assembly built into the base repels the pods clean into space, straight up through the ejection tubes."

"And you are installing eight of them, aren't you?" Caladea had entered the bridge a few moments ago. "And I thought you might be putting in turbo elevators!"

"We had a difficult enough time getting the plasma conduits installed. Aside from power, sensors, shields and weapons I'm not in the business of remodelling Sunhome. I'm just bringing its defences up to spec," I stated. "Question is, are we on a two front war?

"With whom would we also be at war with?" Razia asked.

"The Golgari," I replied. "After all, we did blow up Endara's space station."

"That was clearing the space lanes of hazardous debris!" Razia claimed. "No Endara already has it out for us, but he's on his own. The Golgari don't have the capacity to take on my Legion even if they bought up a couple of ship-fulls of Romulan side arms, and Szadek sure won't help him."

"A fellow vampire?" I had to ask.

"It doesn't work like that. Vampires consider each other to be rivals. That's good for us as it keeps their numbers down," Razia answered.

* * *

I awoke with Razia wrapped around me. Sara must be on the bridge. "You know, those antimatter pods you want to install-"

"Are safer than parking the '_Helion_ atop of Sunhome," I finished.

"How?" Razia asked.

"The ejection system of the pods in this ship is only space rated," I answered. "They won't work from here. Why do you think that the impulse engines stays hot?"

"I see. And you were planning to mention this when?"

"I wasn't. The internal engineering of this ship is the purview of Ellen, Pense, Caladea, Brent, and Marie."

* * *

Razia and I entered the bridge after having breakfast. Razia sidled up to Caladea who was on the engineering console. "Do you know that our antimatter containment system is not rated for sitting here atop Sunhome?" Razia quietly asked of Caladea.

"Star ships aren't built that way. That's why we keep our impulse engines ticking over, and the reason spaceports are usually built well away from populated areas," Caladea quietly replied.

Satisfied, Razia returned to my chair. "See, I wasn't lying to you," I mentioned.

Razia was surprised that I overheard them. "Anything else that I should be made aware of?"

"Not as guild Parun and Guild master," I answered.

"Feather is still the Guild master." That got a raised eyebrow. "And Edana is head of the League of Wojeks. The commander-general only answers to her, instead of the guild mages."

"Speaking of guild mages," I mentioned as Calrea entered the bridge and took up the tactical station. She was wearing her cadet uniform. "She will have to be trained for both mana-less and mana-verses."

* * *

The shift ended quietly without incident. Strange. No Romulans to be found on the planet outside of Teysa's spaceport. And they seemed to be making it a point of being respectful to the Wojeks patrolling there. Then a call came in from the guild mage chambers. _Knew it was too good to be true_. Razia took the call, this time I didn't overhear the conversation. Then she came back to Sara and I. "We have to go," Razia ordered. John and Pense had just entered, and he got the center seat.

* * *

We were back in the guild mages chambers, which were starting to look a _lot_ like a star ships bridge. With the scanners and tactical stations going in with the battle computers, alongside the engineering station. The scanners were tied into the main view screen, but there was no center seat. A semicircular bench, which held the head mages, was located there. It was what was on the view screen that was the puzzle.

"It's not the Orzhov, that we have determined. And they are definitely headed here," the head guild mage stated.

"All along the watchtower …" I mused aloud.

"What was that?" Sara asked

"Lyrics. Outside in the cold distance, a wildcat did growl. Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl." I finished.

"But we are looking at two flights … of angels. Fairly well armed it appears," Razia said. "The sky-knights?"

"Are following but not closing. Those angels haven't made any hostile moves, and just seem to be coming here," the guild mage replied.

"Stephen?"

"Wait it out. I have a hunch. Besides if they decide to land on Sunhome they will be directly under the _'Helion's_ guns." I concluded with, "Bet this are Reya and Elspeth's doing."

Sara asked, "All at once?"

"Only one way to find out."

* * *

The two flights of angels landed on the top of Sunhome. They seemed to be waiting. It was hard to give orders on this windy day, but John was alerted to our guests. One of the angels cast a spell, and the winds died down.

The three of us cleared the top stairwell, and stood facing the now one group of angels. They were of at least two well identifiable species. The group of two winged angels contrasted with the other group … of 6-winged angels! All of them regarded me with curiosity, but seemed to have been briefed on my expected presence. I looked the groups of angels over and turned to Razia. "Razia, it's Reya and Elspeth."

All of those angels bowed down. The lead two winged angel spoke. "Holiest, Reya and Elspeth told us to seek you out …"

Razia just looked at me. "Told you so."

One of the other angels was about to say something to me, when Razia just put an arm around me. That rather shocked angel decided against it.

"Why? Why come here of all places?" Razia asked the group.

"Ask Sarrasa why she is here!" _At least one Battlegrace angel is in the mix_.

"Sara is here by her own choice. She has decided to stay at my side rather than stay on Alara," I replied.

The lead angel shushed his companion. "Elspeth told us that your legion could use reinforcements in your angelic echelon after suffering a great loss. All of us here have been torn from our original worlds. From the destruction of Serra's realm, to many other victims of Pyrexia, we wandered the multi-verse, looking for a real purpose, rather than just helping here and there."

Then the lead 6-winged angel spoke up. "Our situation is different. We were trapped in a crystalline 'object' and cast into the void by a powerful being. We believe that this being was a planes walker. Elspeth found us in the void and brought us here."

"And where is this crystalline object?" I asked.

"Elspeth said that she would leave it in 'orbit' and that you should have no problem retrieving it if you wished."

"Do you mind waiting here a moment?" Sara asked the group.

"No. We await your decisions."

The three of us retreated down the stairwell.

"So, it seems that Elspeth has decided to recruit any wayward angels for the Boros. If they will integrate into our ranks, then I have no problem with it." Razia stated. Then she looked at me. "Oh no, you see a problem."

"We'll need a bigger boat," I stated. "The _'Helion_ was designed to house a total of 180 personnel, and a full crew of 143. This group on the roof alone, with our mortal recruits puts us at our limit. And I bet more will be on the way."

"That's the problem? Then we'll build a bigger boat."

_That was unexpected!_ "And where will we be building this bigger boat? The closest shipyards are in Wa-Lu"

"For now," Razia had a look of fake innocence on her face. "You run the ship, I run the guild. Let's just say that there will be a small shipyards going into orbit around Ravnica. It will be built in cargo pods that will be towed here for assembly into the final yards. We expect to have 6 slips, a refinery, and two mining ships. We will have to share guild symbols on it with the Orzhov. That also means star ship crew candidates amongst the mortals will need to be evaluated and trained."

"Lets get back upstairs then." We returned to the group.

"I have decided to accept you into the Boros Legion," Razia declared. "However the experience may be not what you expected it to be!"

That left some of the group with puzzled expressions.

One angel spoke up. "I have a question for the human."

"Call me Fleet Captain Michael."

"How did you know that we weren't hostile? We were warned about your paranoia," the angel queried.

"I didn't. But you are angels and I expect a certain amount of honour from you," I replied.

"And?" This angel was intuitive!

I looked up at the _Parhelion II_. "And we all are under my guns, with my first officer sitting on the triggers."

"But you are here as well?"

"Yes. John has orders to blast us all. We would wake up in sickbay and you would wake up in the brig."

"We have a brig?" Razia asked.

"Right behind Tony and Dwayne's office," I replied. "We do have a security detail on board." I turned to the new angels. "We will need to get you settled in and checked out. Follow me."

* * *

Two days later I had my first formal address of the new angels, as well as a few others. I looked over the new cadets, with a bit of amusement. There were the 6 Emeria angels, sporting their grey uniforms with no less than 6 wing sleeves each! We had retrieved their crystal artefact from orbit and were still studying it. Then there was the other contingent, of two winged angels. Two Serra angels, two Serra advocates, one Serra's Herald, and two Battlegrace angels rounded out the angels. However outnumbering them were the two-dozen mortals also in the room. The real surprise were the two goblins that were wearing cadet uniforms! The mortal contingent consisted of 16 humans, a dozen from the guild mages and four from the skyjeks. Six Minotaurs also wore the grey cadet's uniform.

"Welcome to the second Boros Star ship Academy. I don't give formal speeches as I figure that that's a waste of your time. You have already got the skinny about what the Academy is and your role as training for star ship duty. I will go over the parallel rank systems that occur on a Boros star ship, if you wish. Otherwise, I'm here to answer the awkward questions that I know that some of you have."

A pregnant pause… Then one of the Battlegrace angels stood up.

"I have a personal question, if you are willing to answer it."

"Perhaps. Ask your question,' I replied

He asked, "What is your relationship with Razia?"

_OK, lets start out with the tough ones_. "I am Razia's life-linked companion and her lover," I stated.

The shock of the answer drove the angel into his seat. "But your relationship with Sarrasa..."

"I am also Sara's life-linked companion and her lover," I answered.

That silenced the entire room. Then the angel regained his composure. "But … how is that possible?"

"Both angels decided to share me, as was their will. I was quite happy to go along with it. The rest is a personal matter." I ended that line of discussion.

"But … Razia is the Guild Parun, and I see her deferring to _your_ orders…"

"Ah. I see. First of all let me explain. As an angels bonded companion I am considered to be the angels equal, in most matters. But on board the star ship there is a defined hierarchy, which is different than the hierarchy outside in the rest of the Boros Legion. The chain of command on board is: I am Fleet Captain and therefore god, as this is my ship after all-"

"What do you exactly mean by 'your ship'?" The angel asked.

"The _Parhelion II_ is my personal property. I paid for its construction out of my own pocket. So not only would I be its commander under naval tradition, I also own the ship outright. I built the ship as homage to the fallen Boros angels. In fact I bankrolled all the improvements to Boros facilities out of my own personal fortune _because_ I'm bonded with the Guild Parun. I love her, so why wouldn't I?"

"Then who is next in command?"

"That would be Captain John Gardiner, whom you will meet during your training," I replied.

"So Razia…"

"Razia is Second Officer after John. She is a fully trained ops officer. Her shipboard rank is commander, and she is the only being to hold that rank, as John is currently the only captain, and I am the only fleet captain, and will be the only fleet captain, in the Boros Legion."

"By whose orders?" This angel was persistent.

"By Razia's actually. She is the Parun and overall has control over the legion. That also gives Razia the off-ship rank of Admiral. In that role I follow her orders in what the current purpose of this ship is, but the how and why is totally my decision. That's what makes us equals…"

The angel was shrewd. I didn't quite expect this intellectual fencing with him.

"You mentioned that John was the only 'current' captain? What does that mean?"

"That means that if we build another ship, we will need another captain to command it. Captains usually command single ships while fleet captains AKA commodores, command fleets of ships."

"So fleet captain and commodore is the same rank?"

"Yes. The title depends on the navy. Razia chose fleet captain for the Boros. I hold the commission as that rank for the Boros Legion," I explained.

"And who issues commissions for the Boros?" Another angel asked to my relief.

"Razia does," I stated. That seemed to satisfy the rest of the angels. If Razia made me fleet captain then who were they to question her decisions?

The Battlegrace angel decided to cut his loses and sit down.

"Any other questions?" I asked.

Eventually one of the guild mages spoke up. "The orientation said that we would finish as 'ensigns", and would be trained in one of seven departments. If we are looking for a command spot, which department should we choose?"

I grinned at that. "The answer is the operations or 'ops' department. Ops personnel are entrusted with the operation and control of the star ship itself including its formidable arsenal of weapons capable of destroying an entire planet if you should so choose. This responsibly, when shown enough competence, could lead to the command track. The other command path departments are in the following order: engineering, sciences, and communications, respectively."

Another angel spoke up. "So medical, security, and transport will not lead to a command assignment?"

"No, they won't," was my answer. "But, command may not be your destiny after all. As far as I know, angels are warrior spirits manifested by mainly white mana. That would make you especially suited to the security department, even though it won't lead to the command branch." As far as I knew all these angels in front of me were exclusively white mana based.

The questions petered out with the usual ones from the mortals, mainly about the form of the training ahead. I left the meeting figuring that I shocked some of the angels …

* * *

Two days later there was a beep at my quarters, just as I had finished my bridge watch. The Battlegrace angel was at my door.

"May I come in?" he asked.

"Sure pull up a chair and have a seat. Can I offer you a drink?"

"No thank you," he replied.

We regarded each other in silence for a few moments.

"Well, obviously something is troubling you. You wouldn't be here otherwise," I stated.

"Yes it is. But I do not quite have the words to articulate it."

"I bet it is just how us mortals can mesh with the angels and work out that harmoniously," I replied.

"That is a way of putting it…"

"Let me give you an example. A while ago, Reya and Elspeth came knocking at our door. Bant needed help. The massive army of Grixis was going to overrun your defences. Guess what. If us mortals and angels didn't take this ship to Alara, you would all be dead, angels, mortals, everybody. Since we mortals are bonded with our angels, our angels have been thinking more like us mortals. Feather, a Boros angel had already did this on her own, in the past."

"Feather is the last angel on your command list isn't she?"

"Yes she is," I replied.

"So our salvation is by thinking more like mortals?"

"Here on Ravnica it is. Your brother figured it out while still in Bant," I replied.

"How?-"

"Do I know your brother is Alejo who joined us with Necia? I'm not that stupid, you know. I did my research on all of your histories. Let's just say that Candella has been unusually cooperative for me, since she owes me a big one." I had dropped my bomb on Ericanj.

"How long have you known?" Ericanj had to ask.

"Since you arrived," I replied.

"But! You have been brutally honest with me since the beginning! Why?"

"Why not? It serves no purpose by lying. If you are to become a 'Boros angel' than you need to know the facts and the procedures of how it works here. Anything less would be a disservice to both you and me," I concluded.

"Thank you. Now I finally see. Your 'brutal honesty' is not a front to pick on us, but a vehicle to bring us to the correct understanding of how the angels and companions work together in running a star ship."

"You finally see the big picture," I concluded. We embraced, and Ericanj left my quarters with a new enlightenment.

* * *

"So how is our second batch of cadets going?" Razia asked as we awoke.

"Good. Even Ericanj has realized what we are doing here," I replied.

"Finally! I was wondering if he was Boros material after all."

"Don't worry," I replied. "I can bring around almost any angel given enough time and examples."

Razia kissed me. We took another hour to get ready for the day.

* * *

Ericanj had become the model student. He had mastered the ops discipline and had gained his bridge watch ticket. He became a shining example for the rest of the cadets, but all of them, including the goblins have been exemplary students. I would be proud to serve with any one of them, Ericanj included.

* * *

It was my final address to this round of cadets. "I am proud to advance all of you to the rank of 'ensign' and assign you all to the usual duties of a starship. All of you either hold the rank in the Boros of 'angel' or 'starship crew'. As Razia has commanded, if you wish the joining of angels with mortals will make mortals 'angels' companions' as well. That is solely the choice of you all. There is a place for each of you within the angelic echelon of 'starship crew', but how you determine your personal affairs is not my business. Good luck."

* * *

Razia had sat me down at dinner, to discuss the new recruits. "How goes it with the new recruits?"

"They all passed with flying colours. I'm actually proud how the new angels adapted to life aboard the _Parhelion II_." That was my official and professional opinion. "I'm also proud how the mortal recruits have stepped up to the plate as well. If all our academies goes this way we will have no problems expanding the fleet."

"So you think we will have no problem manning a second star ship?" Razia had to ask.

"Absolutely not. We have the expertise to form at least two ship crews and fill in the crews of both. There are a few angels who could use some command experience in the center seat," I added.

"Who?"

"Ericanj, for one," I replied.

"I thought you hated his guts?" Razia answered.

"Actually no. The reason that I have been riding his ass is the fact that I see potential in him. It's that spark that leads to really great ship commanders. If you ask me who should command our next star ship, it's Ericanj."

"Wow! That's not expected! But then again, I should have expected that you would ride the best candidate to make sure he had the 'right stuff'." Razia concluded. We smooched...

* * *

"Ericanj, step forward," Razia commanded. This was the last parade of the second batch of cadets before they joined the ships complement.

Ericanj stepped out of formation. He was completely puzzled by this. "Razia, I don't-"

"Shush," Razia commanded. Ericanj shut up.

"I hereby bestow Ericanj with the medal of merit," Razia stated. "It is the opinion of the Legion that Ericanj is fit to join the command ranks of the star ship crew. Thus I promote Ericanj to the rank of Lieutenant, with the responsibilities that that rank entails."

All the new recruits, Ericanj included, did not at first believe what was happening. "But that means …" Ericanj looked at me. I just smiled.

"That means that you are the next candidate for the command of a star ship," Razia answered. "It is the fleet captain's opinion that you are the best qualified, and shall serve as the next commander of the next Boros star ship to be commissioned. Congratulations, Lieutenant." Razia presented Ericanj with his new Red and White command uniform.

Ericanj looked at me again. "Is that why?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Thank you," he replied. We finally understood each other fully. The rest of the cadets applauded Ericanj, after the humans started clapping.

* * *

I answered another beep to my quarters' door. This time Alejo was there.

"You have pestered my brother, to finally give him a command rank. I don't understand."

"Your brother showed a potential that I haven't seen in an angel before. His questioning, and willingness to embrace the unorthodox, is just what is needed in a star ship commander. His approach is almost … human, even more so than you are. He has what it takes, but I had to make sure, so I tested him. Sure he is inexperienced! But so was I when I first began my star ship captaincy. But with time I'm sure he will make all of us proud as the commander to the second Boros star ship!" That was my answer.

"Thank you." Alejo responded. "You have experience beyond your years. How do you really do it?"

"I go with my gut instinct. It hasn't failed me yet. I got both Razia and Sara out if it, and as well as having set up the new Boros crew." I just smiled, and Alejo had to leave it at that.

* * *

I awoke with both Sara and Razia wrapped around me. That was rather unusual these days.

"How was your training exercise?" Sara asked. She was not involved with the training of the new recruits.

"Difficult, but rewarding," I replied, honestly.

"Did everyone graduate?"

"Yes, actually. Including the goblins," I replied.

"I heard there was a troublesome angel …" Sara trailed off.

"Not … exactly," was my reply. I exchanged grins with Razia. "It was just that there was this angel who had the spark of star ship command, who needed testing. He passed with flying colours."

"Oh. So you don't have a hate on for Alejo's brother," Sara stated.

"Of course not! But I needed to test him. I'm glad I did, as he will command the second Boros star ship."

"… I see. Thank you. Alejo thought it was personal."

"Well, it was! When I see that spark in someone, I will put him or her to the test. I have to know who out there will be covering my back as captain of one of my ships," I finished.

* * *

The Azorius were informed that the _'Helion_ was going to be unavailable for a while. We were on another mission of exploration and to shakedown the new crew. I wanted to see who worked best with whom, to determine the split in the crew when it was time. Also, the type of split would determine what ship we should build next. I had a few ideas …


	5. Spaceship Superstar

**5: SPACESHIP SUPERSTAR**

We were back on a computer terminal looking up star ship designs. We needed a second star ship, and something bigger than a runabout. I needed a ship that was big enough to be capable of standing on its own 'two feet' while taking a small crew. Also, the ship has to be modifiable, to change the quarters decks for angel use.

* * *

I was in the shuttle bay looking over the crystalline object that the Emeria angels were trapped in. It was fascinatingly complex. The electronic details within the crystal were unexpected. This device was more than just a prison! The intricacies took a while until … we found the door.

"It has a door?" I asked. _Why would a solid device have a door_?

"Here it is." Marie answered. She sent a signal and the door actually opened. I stepped aboard.

"OK, this is not a solid device … it's a ship," I stated.

"What do you mean – a ship?" Pense asked.

"It's a ship. The crystalline structure houses a pocket dimension, with access to different levels of that ship. The person who used it last simply put those angels into the cargo hold. If they were on the bridge level, as I am, they would be able to steer this device through out the void. It's a void ship," I concluded.

"It's a what?" Pense asked.

"It's a void ship. A ship designed to travel in the void between universes," I replied. "It creates its own internal dimension to house those who are traveling. The internal space is just over a million cubic meters, corresponding to a sphere of about 50 meters in radius."

"But you said that it can travel through the void?" Pense was totally dumfounded. Nothing should be able to travel through the void, with the exception of planes walkers.

"That is what it was built for," I replied. "I know planes walkers can travel through the void, on their own, but physical beings can't. This ship solves that problem. By the way, the door can be opened to any deck, so those angels were simply put in the cargo hold and cast into the void, with the ship pilot less!" I finished.

"So, the ship is fully operational?" Pense asked.

"Yes it is. If we want an away team to head into the void to check out other multi-verses, this ship would be the perfect vehicle to do it. From the consoles that I have checked out this ship is built for 'planes walking' for non- planes walkers. And from the consoles, I'm pretty sure that humans built this ship."

Razia entered the shuttle bay where the void ship was housed. After a quick briefing from Pense, she turned to me. "Can we use that ship?"

"Yes, we can. I have been aboard, and with Pense I have parsed out what the ship actually does. She is a 'void ship', which is capable of crossing the void between micro- and macro- verses." I finished.

"But what about our second star ship?" Razia asked.

"I have a design in mind: A _Valkrie III_ class frigate. She sports 5 main collimators and a pair of multi-fire torpedo tubes. Her 5 quarters decks can be reduced to three, for the angels, and she sports dual shields. In fact, she is the smallest ship with that capability. So, a crew of about 80, cloak and dual shields will make her the ideal training vessel for the Boros." I beamed.

"All right, 'make it so', to quote one of your famous captains," Razia replied. She had been studying my history!

That brought a smile to my face. Although actually after my time, Captain Picard's command became a defacto standard, and Razia would have read my naval histories, including my electronic ones. I just had to go along with it…

Our new shipyards had its first orders … to build a _Valkrie III_ class frigate.

* * *

Alarms were ringing throughout the _'Helion_. A new Romulan ship was buzzing us. A _Mogai_ class cruiser over flew us and continued on a northbound heading.

"It looks like Relar has a new ship," I mentioned.

"That one looks more powerful," Razia stated.

"It's a full-up cruiser. Twice the size and 50% more powerful than the _'Helion_."

"Only 50% more firepower?" Sara asked.

"The '_Helion_ is over-gunned," I answered. "Her forward firepower is equivalent to a heavy cruiser's, on a small light cruiser hull. We wanted a ship that fit our small batch of angels but still could kick some serious ass."

"Paranoid human!" Caladea quipped from the engineering console.

"You betcha. You should know my motto-"

"Nobody gets one of your angels!" All the angels on the bridge shouted, in harmony. Now my ears hurt.

* * *

A guild mage entered the bridge and handed me a newssheet. The fact that he avoided the angels clued me into reading the sheet. _Angel sale? What the hell?_

Somebody in my mana-less universe had put out an ad that reached the newssheets of Ravnica. There is a slave auction on Troyus, in the Tellun system. The 'feature' of this slave auction is … angels! With some research, there was also published a guide to 'the Care and Keeping if a Mana-less Angel', produced by the slavers from Troyus. It had all the details for treating your (now) mana-less angels in the mana-less universe. Thus these angels are from a mana-based universe.

* * *

"Tell the Azorius that we are leaving," I commanded.

"Where are we going?" Razia asked.

"To a planet called Troyus, in my old universe," I replied.

"And what are we doing there?" Sara had to ask.

"I'm thinking of buying a bunch of angels … "

"Buying … a bunch … of … angels," was Razia's reply.

"There s a slave auction on Troyus. Apparently they have 'angels' for sale. If they are fellow mana-verse angels," I answered.

"You are going to liberate them, as your rescuing gene commands," Razia concluded.

"Aww …"

Another double angel hug ensued. The command chair groaned under the strain. This time we left part of our crew behind. I had the split between the two ship's crews. The only person assigned to the _Valkrie III_, was left onboard, Ericanj. He was going to guide the _'Helion_ in this trip. I had left the center seat for him. When Ericanj entered the bridge, there was a ship on the main crew screen. It was a _Valkrie III_, with modifications. "That's going to be your new command," I informed Ericanj. "We don't have a name for it yet."

"That's OK," Ericanj stated. "We will be on your back, whatever the name is. That ship is a sweet little ship, with a lot of firepower in it, for its size. We should be able to be capable of standing toe to toe with the best…"

"That is why I have commissioned that ship. It's the smallest ship that I would plan on having angels inhabit, as a starship. Your capabilities would be the range of a simple frigate, with a frigate's duties." A frigate could do most of the military duties of a ship, being the smallest of the 'capital ships'. I wasn't going to put my angels in a position to compromise their protection. They might be in control of a small starship, but it will be a full ship with all the benefits of such. Even when I'm not there my motto continues, as I build a second starship for the Boros.

"Well, nobody gets one of your angels," Ericanj stated.

In the short time with us he learned my motto. I just thumped him on the shoulder. "What do you think of my second starship?"

"It's perfect," Ericanj stated. "It's big enough to sport real defenses while small enough to fit our young crew."

"I don't want you all to be running round in runabouts." I was not willing to compromise my ship choice, and Ericanj noticed.

"Now that I understand you, I won't fail you. I'm at your side, whatever it takes." Ericanj stated.

"Well, then, Commander, you need some center seat time." I left the center seat and directed him to it.

"Commander?" Both Ericanj and Razia stated.

"Yes, Commander. If he is going to command a ship, his rank must be at least 'Commander'. Usually it's a captain that commands a ship. But a Commander can captain a frigate, under usual naval tradition. We have just a candidate for this assignment…" I directed Ericanj to the center seat…

"All right then …" Ericanj stated.

"Don't look at me, I'm not here, …" I stated as I left the bridge.

* * *

The trip to Troyus was uneventful. Ericanj's first command was rather quiet. But the fun was to ensue in the future. One of the things that we needed to confirm was this 'angel sale' of slaves. Being an Orion planet I was expecting a real sale of mana-verse angels….

* * *

Sure enough there were angels for sale. There were three angel 'slaves' up for auction. They commanded premium prices, and had a reserve of 100 _bars_ of latinum. That's the kind of money that makes a good down payment on a small starship. Luckily I keep a substantial portion of my personal fortune on board. I ship my bars of latinum on _pallets_.

John, Tony, Allan, and myself had beamed down to the planet. We checked into the most luxurious hotel we could find. It had a casino attached. After throwing some money around – just enough to establish our selves as high rollers, we registered as buyers at the auction.

"Are you interested in the Angel Sale?" The auctioneer's assistant asked?

"That's what we are here for," I replied.

"Then you need to leave on deposit 100 bars of latinum," he sneered.

"Fine. Where and when do you want to take delivery of the latinum? I will have a team bring it down from my ship," I replied. He didn't expect me to not flinch at that.

"You are not worried about our security?" He asked.

"Of course not. But cross me, and I will blast this entire planet into rubble. I am the owner of the advanced warship in orbit." It was a fact, when the _Parhelion II_ entered the system she became the most powerful ship there. The planetary defense forces were a trio of gen-3 cruisers. In fact I could probably wipe out every ship here in orbit. I had a funny feeling that I might have to…

* * *

The auctioneers were not expecting my delivery method! Six uniformed minotaurs, carrying phaser rifles, were the guards of the shipment, escorting the human with the anti-grav pallet. The latinum was delivered without trouble.

* * *

"We are beginning to attract too much attention," I mentioned to John, while we were walking through the casino. We had picked up a tail. There were three thugs flanking us when we entered the elevator. They entered the next one. I pressed the button for the floor below ours. We stepped out, drew our phasers (I refused to be disarmed here, and when they saw how much latinum I deposited in the casino safe they relented) and hit the stairwell. Peering through the stairwell door, the three thugs were armed with disruptors, but were confused when the elevator we were in was empty. Stupid. I stepped out the door and shot all three of them before they could react.

When they came to they were hanging upside down from the balcony railing. "Who sent you?" John asked.

"Nobody!" The first one replied.

"Wrong answer." I fired my phaser, neatly slicing the rope. His screams disappeared into the darkness, as he fell 140 floors to the ground below.

"Have you a better answer?" John questioned from the second.

"I don't know. He didn't say his name! Honest! Just kill me. I face a worse fate if I tell you!"

John put his hand up. He pulled out his phaser, leaned over the balcony and fired into the thug's arm. It burst into flames, and was amputated. John was using the heat setting. The thug screamed while holding his burnt stump. "You had better come up with a better answer than that or you lose both arms!"

We overlooked something. The third thug had a boot knife, and preferred 'death over dishonor'. He sliced through the rope and plunged to his death.

That left us with the 'one armed man' to interrogate. Too bad both our Vulcan's were onboard the _Nimbus III_.

"Haul him up," I commanded.

"Why?" John asked.

"We won't get any information from him. But we can send a message," I informed.

"What are you doing?" The thug asked.

"Go to your master and give him this message. Mess with us and I will find you. Then I will hunt down everyone who is genetically connected with you and kill him or her. Then I will destroy any abode that houses them. I may even sterilize the entire planet, if I'm pissed off enough. Now Go!" I shoved the one armed thug into the hall and slammed the door.

* * *

Auction time. The slave auction started with an assortment of 'regular' humanoid beings, mostly female. It became apparent what the theme of this auction was. All the beings for sale were destined to become sex slaves. Another script was unfolding. The _'Helion_ was moving out of orbit.

"Where are they going?" The port master wondered as the cruiser left orbit.

"They are … entering geostationary orbit above the auction site," one of the controllers stated.

"That won't help them. If they think that they can buy their way out they have another think coming."

The controller was nervous. "Do you think that angering that powerful ship would be helpful?"

"Only if we get what we want out of them," the port master answered.

But I was here for one purpose only. It took discipline to not just start shooting, to try to free everybody. But even with my advanced ship that could be fatal…

We waited and waited. Eventually we got to the 'Angel Sale'.

"Next up is a special auction. We have an 'angel sale'! There are three angels up for auction. Fulfill your wildest fantasies! The bidding for each will begin at 100 bars of latinum, so registered bidders, have your cards ready!" The auctioneer announced. The three angels were brought out. They were bound in shackles, with their wings tied down by straps. They were dressed in scanty clothing. All three had red streaks under their eyes, about mid-nose height. I recognized this as prolonged agonizer use. These angels had been tortured into submission!

"First up is Sirael. Her measurements are 37 – 25 – 36. She would make any male extremely happy. Bidding starts at 100 _BARS_ of latinum!"

That made most of the people here spectators. Only the very wealthy had that much money, and they had to register with the reserve to participate in the bidding.

The bidding rapidly hit 500 bars of latinum, and I was in the thick of things. When we hit 1000 bars of latinum I was challenged by the only other bidder. "We know about Count Iblis, but he has a point," the auctioneer stated. "We don't know that you can honor your bid."

"Very well," I stated. I spoke into my communicator, and then informed, "you need to stand down your shields."

"You have a one minute window starting now."

I didn't need a minute. As soon as the shields dropped a transport occurred. Six heavily armed minotaurs materialized with a complete pallet of latinum. Anybody familiar with it would have realized that I had beamed down 7500 bars of latinum. "Do I need to beam down some more?" I sarcastically asked.

Count Iblis backed down. "No. It's quite alright," the auctioneer said.

I had won Sirael for 1200 bars of latinum.

"Next up is Arediel, 35 – 25 – 37 …" At this time the _'Helion_ cloaked and disappeared from every bodies' sensors.

When the bidding ended, I had bought all three angels that were for sale. I was pretty sure that they were Serra angels, trapped by various forces. I now 'owned' Sirael, Arediel, and Elariel.

"What do you want us to do?" Was the angels' response to my purchase. They seemed to expect to remain in their shackles. Considering the scanty clothing they were in, they expected the worst.

"Nothing right now. We need to safely get you off planet…

I was the proud owner of three angels. Total cost, 3300 bars of latinum. _Now to get 4300 bars of latinum and 3 angels off the planet_.

After the auction an announcement came over the general frequencies. "Sorry to inform everyone, an ion storm has blocked access to orbit. It will be a few hours until it clears."

"Want to bet that is against us?" I asked of John.

We all had our phasers out. "So what now?"

"We beam up to the _'Helion_. She is under the ionization.

I pulled out my old fashioned communicator and called my ship. Apparently the auction site was still shielded. I ordered the Ordruun to pack up the remaining latinum and put it into their packs. They did that quickly, each carrying 850 bars in their minotaurs-sized backpacks. "Leave the last 100 as a tip," I concluded. We headed for the exit.

It soon became apparent that nobody wanted us to leave. _To bad for them._ It looks like there will be a lot of killing, as the Minotaurs unlimbered their phaser rifles and racked a grenade into the attached launcher.

"Weapons free on any and all targets," I ordered.

The shooting commenced. The Minotaurs took out many groups of thugs, while I used my gun-kata to take out specialty targets. I was pretty sure these thugs were all under Count Iblis, as they were the same quality as the previous thugs at the casino.

"We did this just to free three angels?" John queried.

"I'd do it for just one! Ask Pense-"

"OK! Point taken!" John responded.

"Free us?" Elariel asked.

"Of course! Serra angels need to be free," I answered. Elariel was surprised that I knew what she was.

We blasted our way into the streets. We headed into a nearby alley, angels in tow and still in chains. "I need to do something about this. We also need to get out from under the shield…"

"Like you are really going to let us go…"

"Like I said, I bought you to free you," while removing their shackles. They were in total shock.

"You know we can just fly away," Sirael stated.

"If that is your wish then do so. You are free," I responded with. The three angels flew away, disappearing amongst the buildings. Then a few minutes later they returned.

"As if there is anywhere on this planet that we can be free!"

"Then you need to trust me on this. We need to get out from under this shield to reach our ship," I replied. Whether they trusted me or not, the angels stuck with us. We sidled through back alleys and blasted our way outward when necessary. Eventually our ship contacted us.

"K'Tee to Stephen, you are out from under their shields."

"Prepare to beam us up," I ordered.

"We will go with you. So what do you _really_ want?" Elariel asked.

Then I addressed the angels. "I want …" the transporter beamed us up.

"You to integrate with the Boros angels," I concluded. By that time I had introduced the Boros angels to the group. Razia had presented herself to the other angels. "Stephen Michael works for me. You are now free. If you wish you can stay with us, be taken to either Ravnica or Alara, or stay in the mana-less universe."

The new angels looked back and forth between Razia and myself. They quickly detected the life-links.

"Thank you. We were expecting a more hideous fate, when one human bought all of us, and considering what we are dressed in." Sirael stated.

"Like we would be beaming another angel down to an angel slave auction! NOT." I mentioned.

"If we stay with you, what will the future bring?" Arediel asked.

Razia answered. "You will go to the next Boros Starship academy, and join the angels and mortals on one of our starships."

"We are … on one of your starships? How did you get a starship?" Elariel finally spoke up.

"Yes we are, and he had it built at a shipyards here in this mana-less universe." Razia pointed to me.

"Yes I came from this universe and I'm that rich. Where do you think that the money to buy you three came from?"

"You bought us … just to free us? _Really_?" Arediel asked. She looked skeptical.

"Yes, the rescuing one did," Razia interjected. "It's his nature. I was rescued twice by this man, and Sara was also rescued by him." Razia gave me an embrace. "The mortals also on board are the equals to the angels, and staying with us means working with them."

* * *

We were definitely wanted. All of the ships in orbit were scanning. The trap was sprung, but the prey had a 9th generation cloaking device. We passed by the search fleet with impunity. Oops. I thought about shooting down the fleet, but decided to disappear instead.

* * *

Sirael, Arediel, and Elariel entered engineering in their new gray cadet uniforms. The next academy wouldn't be for a while, when there were enough suitable candidates, and the _Nimbus III_ was built, but that didn't mean they couldn't start training. All three chose engineering. They fell victim to mana-less technology and desperately wanted to know how to deal with it. Never could have too many engineers, either.

* * *

When the _Parhelion II_ landed back on Sunhome, sure enough there was another small batch of angel refugees at Sunhome. You would think that there was an angel hotline out there. _But there is,_ _Reya and Elspeth. Those two are incorrigible!_ There was a beep at my quarters' door. It was the three ex-slaves. "We have a question for you …"

"Well, this is liberty hall. You can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard." I led them to the chairs around my desk. The _'Helions'_ captain's quarters were expanded and included my office. They were totally confused by the phrase. "That means you can speak freely here."

"We thank you for rescuing us, as it has appeared that you rescued all the angels aboard this ship." Sirael stated.

"I had help."

"What is your relationship with Razia and Sara?" Elariel asked.

_Here we go again_. "I am their life-linked companion and lover."

"Both?" Elariel was shocked.

"Yes, both. I'm going to be busy enough keeping my angels satisfied that you didn't have any worries from me!" I just smiled.

"So your relationship is _mutual_?" Elariel kept going …

"Yes it is," Razia answered as she entered our quarters. She gave me a huge embrace and smooch. "Very mutual!"

Our three new Serra angels were satisfied with their answer.

* * *

On the bridge the next day we had already landed the starship atop Sunhome, and took up our 'rightful position' as guardian of Ravi. By now Ericanj had settled into his command role, and that ship was becoming a well-oiled machine. Just a few fitting out of details and that ship was ready to roll. Next it was Alejo's turn…


	6. Riders On the Storm

**6: RIDERS ON THE STORM**

We were on another quickie exploration mission in Ravnica. This one was to a likely pair of stars a parsec apart and only 18 from Ravnica. Both class G stars could have a class M world. It turns out that we weren't the only ones interested in those systems.

K'Tee was on the comm. board. "We are picking up a distress signal, dead ahead … just a beacon, from the starboard sun." There was a pregnant pause … "The beacon is from _The Inquisitor's Omen_."

"That's Jace's_ Daedalus_ class o' goblins. Distance?" I asked.

"We are 3 parsecs out," Nergat replied.

"Four and a half hours at flank. Go to warp 18," I ordered.

"Warp factor 9.9 aye," Nergat corrected.

The intercom buzzed. It was engineering "I hope you don't plan on keeping this up all day. That's a brand new warp core and it hasn't been fully broken in yet," Pense complained.

"Then consider this it's first stress test. It needs to hold together at Flank for 5 hours!"

* * *

We thundered across the warp wall 30 minutes earlier than I had told Pense. This was a hard cross at flank to impulse. "Engineering I want a full diagnostic on my warp drive. Sara full scans please."

"They are behind us, leaving the system at impulse speeds. They are being … chased … by a Romulan cruiser … also at impulse speeds," Sara responded.

"Want to bet Jace torched their warp core? I wonder if they are still using quantum singularities?"

"I think I'll save my money," Razia answered. She had wisely sat down at tactical when she realized that I wasn't stopping to nicely carry over the warp wall.

"Spin her around. It looks like the only folks out here with an operational warp drive is us." I had that look.

Both Sara and Razia clued in. We were going after the Romulan. A few minutes later we were closing on the Romulan. A _Mogai_ class cruiser was chasing down the _Daedalus_. "Relar?" Razia asked.

"Looks like it," I replied.

"Then he needs a good killing," Razia concluded.

"John, heat 'em up," I ordered. Both John and Pense now were on the bridge, as well as Sara and Razia. This would definitely be entertaining, regardless of the outcome. When John was on the bridge, Pense usually took up the engineering console. Or ops. Razia occupied the tactical and Sara occupied sciences. But right now Pense was giving me the cold shoulder.

* * *

It was the demise of Relar. Hs cruiser was disabled by the fact that it was missing a warp core, thanks to Jace. As soon as we were in range Jace appeared on our view screen. He explained that he disabled the Romulan warp core the same way as he took ours out, but the Romulan was still chasing his ship. We couldn't resist.

I looked at Razia. "Kill him," was her command. I looked at Sara.

"Finish this," Sara advised.

"All right, lets take out Relar. We have the advantage, in the fact that we have the only warp drive out here. Let's send his ship straight to hell!"

And that's what we did. He was no match for a warp equipped cruiser, and a couple of full barrages later, his ship became an expanding ball of plasma. Our attack vaporized his ship and left us without a Romulan threat! There was only the damaged _Daedalus_ class cruiser, and us left. The lasting debris was a few sections of Relar's heavy cruiser. It was reduced to basic atoms by our guns.

* * *

_The Inquisitor's Omen_ was in the new Ravmican shipyards, thanks to a tow by the _Parhelion II. _She was undergoing major structural repairs, as well as getting a technological refit. The _Nimbus III_ was finishing out in another dry-dock and the _'Helion_ was back atop Sunhome. A trans-guild courier had just dropped off a message. Razia read it.

"Damn him and his luck!"

"Whose luck?" I had to ask.

"That Romulan. This message is some hate mail from Commander Relar of the 'new Tal'Shiar.' He apparently is hanging out in Duskmantle and wasn't on his ship. It ends with the threat 'wait until I get a new ship.'"

"Just great. He's pissed off and has practically moved in with Szadek. That's all we need," I replied.

"But I wonder when the Romulans stop giving him more ships?" Sara asked.

"He's a Commander in their Tal'Shiar. That's their secret police and espionage wing. That means he has an unlimited ship supply," I answered.

"OK, but why is he only a Commander? I thought you have to be at least a Captain to command a cruiser?" Sara asked again.

"Romulan ranks don't work the same way as ours. All of our navies have the traditional wet-navy ranking system, from Starfleet, the former Rim Worlds Navy, the Psychon defense force, and the Boros navy. You have 4 basic ranks of officers, second lieutenant, lieutenant, lieutenant commander, and commander. Commanders can be in captaincy positions on smaller ships. Then there are two command ranks, Captain and Commodore, or Fleet Captain. Lastly there are the flag ranks of the Admiralty, rear, vice, and full. Sometimes Fleet Captains are considered flag officers as well," I explained. "The Romulans have the basic rank of Centurion, with 5 steps in it, which would include our ensign. Then there is a rank of sub-commander, which would actually sit between our commander and captain. Their commander is a rank between captain and commodore. They have been known to command single ships and fleets of ships, while most single ships are commanded by sub-commanders."

* * *

I was ship shopping again. Now we do need a bigger boat: a capital ship. Then we needed a crew for it. I was shopping for a ship design list.

_Annapolis_ class: successor to the _Sovereign_. Plans might exist at the Wa-Lu shipyards. She requires a crew of 1000 in standard form…

_Ares_ class tactical cruiser. One was building at Wa-Lu. 600 crew, twice that of a stock _Courageous_. Two type 3 phaser cannon come standard!

_Alexandria_ class: competitor with the Annapolis class.

_Insignia_ class battle cruiser. It was another large 9th generation ship, which plans may exist for. It has a crew of 800.

_Tempest_ class dreadnought. With 1500 crew probably too big!

_Titan_ class: and I thought that the Tempest was huge!

_Wraith_ class strike cruiser. Successor to the _Akira_ class, with a crew of 600. Heavy on the torpedo armament.

Then there's my favorite, the _Prometheus_ class cruiser with multi-vector assault mode. Even better is her crew of fewer than 500. Breaks into three ships with the equivalent firepower of the _Tempest_ class!

The question becomes: is there plans for it, can we build it here and how much does the specialized materials cost? Basic materials like tri-titanium and transparent aluminum are actually readily available on Ravnica. They go under the names mizzium and invisio-mizzium respectively. That's how Razia's sword and armor were made originally. So it's back to the mana-less universe for some research.

* * *

Apparently the _Prometheus_ class has been lost in time. But luckily for us the _Ares_ class plans are still available. It's my second choice. And, as a bonus the plans are available so we can construct it at the Ravnican shipyards, out of indigenous materials. It has the greatest firepower per ton after the _Prometheus_. Thus the cost of constructing an _Ares_ class locally is less than what it cost be to build the _'Helion_. That worked for me, as my resources weren't unlimited. I still had a massive reserve, as the shuttle held skids of latinum…

Our _Ares_ class cruiser started building just as our _Nimbus III_ was released on it's shakedown cruise. The angels and other crew took it over, and Ericanj took it out on its shakedown. This was the test of our shipyards, whether they could build modern starships. He started the third Boros Starship Academy. That meant that I would have to guest aboard the _Nimbus III_.

* * *

"Welcome to the third Boros Star ship Academy. I don't give formal speeches as I figure that that's a waste of your time. You have already got the skinny about what the Academy is and your role as training for star ship duty. I will go over the parallel rank systems that occur on a Boros star ship, if you wish. Otherwise, I'm here to answer the awkward questions that I know that some of you have." _That sounded familiar_, I thought. But this time there wasn't the fencing with any of the angels. I explained the ranking system and my role as Razia's companion, but this goblin-less group seemed to be rather typical of academy personnel.

* * *

I was back on board the _'Helion_. I had called Alejo to my quarters. He arrived quickly. "You wanted to see me?"

"Sit down." I ordered. Alejo sat in a chair. "Have a drink," I offered.

"No, thank you," was his reply.

"Have … a … drink. That's not a request," I insinuated.

He clued in. This was not a normal meeting. Then he guzzled the entire drink. "You know, alcohol does not have an effect on angels," he stated. Then he took a quizzical look at his glass. Something was amiss.

"Who said you drank alcohol?" was my response.

Alejo looked at me again, and I noticed that the drink had started its effect. "What did you do to me?"

"Don't worry about that. It's for the good of the Boros. I need your honesty," I replied.

"But wha…" The drug had definitely set in. "I don't get it."

"Don't worry. No permanent harm has come to you. The chemical I administered to you has the same effect on angels as alcohol has on humans. You are as physical as you are mana based," I explained. "But I need your honest answer. Did you choose medical because of your life link or would you pick ops?"

"Of course," he answered. "What else would I do?"

"Switch to ops and take up a command spot like your brother. The only other angel with that spark that I have seen is you."

"So … you got me drunk to read my thoughts?"

"Yes. On my world that is sometimes the best way to find a person's true intent. I think you would be as good as your brother as the commander of the next starship. Now, you may be taking over the _Nimbus III_ while Ericanj takes command of our new _Ares_ class ship, but …"

"Will I go through your wringer?"

"In part. You have already gone through it in part. You need to pass a few more tests…" I was feeling the alcohol that I had been drinking. "But I already think that you could do almost as well as your brother in the center seat, if you are up for it."

"Thank you for your support. I _am_ up for it. In fact, I was hoping that you would look at me as a 'humanistic' angel, who had what it takes to be in charge. I know now that it takes the 'human touch' to run a starship. Our blend of crews seems to be the perfect fit. I'm surprised that the best solution is this mix, but there you go."

"Welcome to my side of existence. With your companionship I get an extended life, for which I'm grateful, but you angels do get something in return. We mortals can bring out a train of thought that makes you and therefore all of us, more survivable," I concluded.

Sara entered our quarters, and Alejo left. She was in a smoochy mood…

* * *

"That was mean!" Alejo accused upon entering the bridge.

"But it did its job." I got my answer. "You do know that the _Parhelion II_ is going to be the flagship of the Boros regardless of how powerful our ships are?"

"So you and Razia are going to retain command of the _Parhelion II _while other angels may command more powerful ships?"

"Yes. The _'Helion_ is still a powerful ship and even if we have more powerful ships in our fleet, its size and firepower won't give it away as the flagship. There is more to starship fleet command than meets the eye."

"How many years do you have under your belt?" Alejo asked.

"Ten physical, and another ten virtual, under the auto-teacher." I replied.

"The auto teacher? What is that?" He asked.

"A device originally crafted by the Eymorgs of Sigma Draconis VI. Section 31 converted it into a permanent memory adder; so the recipient cannot only collect the information about a subject, they could experience the experience of doing that task." I explained.

"And does this device still exist?"

"As far as I know," I replied. "It should still be at the shipyards of New Moria, and it should have all my programs still on file."

"Can we use it?"

"Only one way to find out," I concluded. That meant a trip to my mana-less universe. It was time for another voyage. At last Ericanj had parked the _Nimbus_ atop Sunhome for the duration. That brought another raft of reporters to the gates of Sunhome…

* * *

The trip to New Moria was unusually quiet. No other ships even appeared on our scanners until the NPDF patrol at the end of the voyage. We headed into dry-dock. While here we had the impulse engines serviced. Time to go aboard and search…

It took a few days to locate the auto-teacher. It was mothballed over 1150 years ago when the mek-tacs perceived that it would only work for yours truly. In fact, it should work for any humanoid being, but the mek-tacs weren't humanoid! It was well preserved, and my programs, the full gamut, were still on file. I also liked where it was stored, in the cargo bay of the _Fury_. She and the _Fantom_ were here in mothballs in a Lagrange point. It should be easy to bring the auto-teacher back online. Since the mek-tacs had no use for it they let me have it with my old ships. We installed it in the '_Helion's _sickbay, almost exactly the configuration it had aboard the _7th Sister_. Now was the moment of truth – would it work on an angel?

* * *

Alejo was willing to take the risk. He had chose something simple to learn. Gun-Kata. It wasn't a long course, and if it worked there would be two of us with that skill. Actually if it worked, all the angels and starship crew would be trained in it. Then nobody would be able to take us on the ground without us kicking some serious ass.

* * *

A week later the cloaked _'Helion_ entered Ravnica space. It worked, and I was sparring with Alejo in the holodeck. Actually I was getting my ass kicked. His better strength and faster than human reflexes meant that I was definitely second-class when an angel was trained with the skills of the auto-teacher. An angel with gun-kata was a being to be reckoned with. There was no way a human could keep up.

"You give?" Alejo asked.

"Yes, I give! You win," I acquiesced. "Your angelic reflexes, with the gun-kata … it's unbeatable!"

"Thank you! And thank you for retrieving the auto-teacher. Both the companions and the angels could learn a lot and learn fast!" Alejo swept me up and gave me a big hug. "If you didn't come back for her holiest and spread the advantage of your mana-less technology, we wouldn't stand a chance."

"Stand a chance against what?" I had to ask.

"Oops. I'm not supposed to tell," Alejo answered.

"Tell about what! Out with it!" I commanded.

"Well, both Reya, and Elspeth expect the Phyrexians to show up sooner or later. She figured that the only hope for the multiverse would be mana-less technology, wielded by angels and the like.

"Just who are these Phyrexians that I have been hearing about…"

"I need your thoughts…" Alejo held a hand up to my temple.

"Go ahead," I had seen this before.

A vision entered my mind. It wasn't pleasant. The Phyrexians were a cross between machine and living being. Part magical, part mechanical, and part organic. And you thought the Borg were bad. The Phyrexians made the Borg look like a walk in the park. That meant that they were put on the top of my list. The machinations of the other guilds, including the Dimir paled in comparison to what the Phyrexians could do.

But it was time to inform Razia. She called up all the angel refugees, first to confirm Alejo's story and then to scold them about keeping secrets from her holiest!

* * *

Now it was time to inform the other guilds. The first was the Orzhov and then the Selesnya Conclave. Beaming directly into Vitu-Ghazi was enough to get their attention.

"Razia. We did not expect you to confront the Chorus of the Conclave directly. The wolf says that we should hear you out…"

"We have a common enemy, who is expected to invade this plane of existence, and who threatens all our existences," Razia replied. The fact that the two of us were here was a shock to many.

"And who is this common enemy?" the Chorus asked.

"The Phyrexians!" Razia projected an image of what the Phyrexians were, and the Chorus picked up the image. Their recoil of horror told the tale. "What are your defenses?" was the question the conclave asked.

"We have starships, with advanced weapons. The power of the sun should sterilize these Phyrexians, but the damage will be great." Razia concluded.

"Then we will be here to rebuild. Thank you, Razia, for your protection. You fight for Ravnica, as her protector. We shall be her rebuilder." The conclave concluded.

"That means we're on our own, doesn't it?" I asked

Razia gave me a hug. "Yes it does. Are you up for it?"

"Not like there's any other place I want to be. Without you and Sara…"

We smooched right in the tree of Vitu-Ghazi. That probably sent a confusing message, too bad. If the Boros were going to take it on the chin, then we will be ready. We transported back out, through all of the Selesnyan magical defenses.

Sunhome was the best-defended structure on the planet, and with 4 type 22 phasers it was also the most powerful. Considering that a single hit from a type 22 smashed the _Faraway Quest_ at Antares…

* * *

"Al right, the cat is out of the bag. It's time to fess up. Reya and Elspeth have been sending us angels with a hidden agenda. It's time to proceed to Alara and get the skinny on the future…"

* * *

The _'Helion_ materialized in Alara, and proceeded to the planet. We were on a specific mission and I wasn't in a good mood. As soon as I reached orbit I called for a mesospheric interference pattern. That would prevent any off planet communication until I allowed it. Then I ordered a beam down to the citadel.

Three humans and 4 angels materialized on the spot where my shuttle used to land. We all had phasers.

The guard angels were looking upon us with uncertainty.

"Don't piss me off this time!" I stated. "I need to see Candela, Reya and Elspeth, stat!" I ordered.

They sensed that I was not in the mood to mince words with them. Solemnly they led us into the inner sanctum where the Council of Orderly Contemplation sat. This time all seven chairs were occupied. Reya sat in the eighth 'guest' chair, my doing.

"I have been wandering the multiverse, in your absence," Elspeth stated. "The ultimate enemy, the Phyrexians, have been moving upon the plane of Mirrodin. They have started a campaign of invasion of that plane. Any of the angelic refugees of the Phyrexians I find have been sent to Ravnica, to bolster your depleted ranks."

"But your defenses…" I stated.

"Are adequate if they scout here." Elspeth stated. "Their thrust is in another direction. I hope it is not towards Ravnica, but I can't give a definite answer. You may be next…"

"You know that we have mana-less technology, with our ships, of which there are many…" I stated.

"Yes, and hopefully your technology can defeat the Phyrexians." Elspeth stated. "I don't know if you are really ready…"

"Listen, we probably can take on any threat!" I beamed, in front of the Council. "Aside from antimatter, I have another secret weapon." Razia gave me a curious look. "The effect is unstoppable, when dropped upon our enemy. You saw it used against Grixis."

Razia added, "It fuels our photon torpedoes, and heavier weapons. Then it fuels special detonations and special destruction of other artifacts the Fleet Captain feels necessary…"

"Then we may be calling for your help again if they do show up here..."

* * *

We over flew the shipyards upon our return to Ravnica. All three Boros dry-docks were occupied. Our _Ares_ class was building, and both the _Fantom_ and _Fury_ were being refitted with a new warp core and weapons emplacements. One of the Orzhov docks was building another pocket dreadnought. The other two were building another dry-dock. This one carried the Izzet signet on its side.

"Soon there will be 3 warp capable guilds. We'd better let the Izzet in on the Phyrexian threat," I stated.

"You know, that the Phyrexians may not show up in years, or decades," Razia replied. "If they show up at all."

"True, but the more people who know about them and decide to build a warship, the more ships there will be. We will have a fleet of five."

"And then we will need more crewmembers. Alejo is going to be busy when Ericanj takes command of the _Aleya_." Razia had just revealed the name of our new ship. Considering our beam into Vitu-Ghazi the Selesnyans were now looking into mana-less technology…

* * *

It's time for some down time. The _Enola Gay_ was at sea again with the three of us aboard. Weather was moderate, and seas were mainly calm. The only problem was the seasonal chill. Definitely not bikini weather! Still bearable though we would probably leave her in port for the next three months…

We never got that far. The next thing that I knew is that I awoke on the sick bay of the _Nimbus III_. "OK, what just happened?" I asked. The synth-flesh on my arms and legs meant that I had been burned pretty badly.

"Actually it happened two days ago," Ericanj stated. "Relar showed up with a new ship, and found you at sea. He lobbed a torpedo into the _Enola Gay._ We got you out just in time…"

Toki was onboard looking me over. "Both Razia and Sara will need their wings to grow back. You thought Caladea looked like a plucked chicken!"

Sure enough both Razia and Sara were featherless, on all their wings! Now I was pissed, as that meant burns throughout their bodies. And you thought Parna was pissed when she saw Caladea! They both didn't know what I would think of them de-feathered. I was about as paranoid as Parna when I saw them. "I'm not made of glass!" Was Razia's remark as I held her close.

"You might as well be!" I replied as I looked upon her featherless wings. "Gun Kata or not, you both still need my protection!" We just hugged for a while, until Sara joined in. Both of them were coated with synth-flesh, and not just on their wings…

"Sorry about that…" Sara stated.

But we all embraced for a while. I was not about to let go. They both expected my response, and gave me my human response. We were going to heal together, and then go out and kick some serious ass.

"Just be glad Sara and Razia held you between them! You might not have made it! The transporter room was engulfed in plasma after the beam out," Alejo mentioned. "That's how you escaped with only minor burns."

_You call this 'minor burns'?_ I thought as I looked over the amount of synth-flesh on me.

Those wings will heal, and we will live through their regrowth. But all bets were off. Relar burned my angels, and he needed a good killing. That became priority one in my eyes, and I would have a good few months to steam about it as those feathers grew back. I had sent a trans-guild courier to Duskmantle. 'If I have to, I will hunt you down, and destroy you and the new fledgling Romulan Empire. Then I will hunt down any one I find with Romulan DNA. And then I will eradicate you from my universe. You have pissed me off for the last time.'

"You think that will have an effect on Relar?" Razia asked.

"I don't care. It was a promise. So don't get in my way…" I trailed off. Too bad Duskmantle wasn't within line of sight of the type 22 phasers on Sunhome, or it would be a smoldering ruin by now.

The angels had learned to let me be when I was in this way. I could marshal resources that they did not have when I needed someone to die. The fact that my angels were featherless was the deciding factor. If vengeance could be wrought… We were waiting my minions' actions. There would be a reckoning, if only on a small scale. Those Romulan officers would be experiencing a set of 'accidents' while they did their duties. That required some angel's companions to be out and about to do their jobs. Pacts that occurred "5" years before coming to Ravnica were enabled, and some people started to die off. Mostly some Romulans close to Relar. Nobody pisses me off and gets away with it…

* * *

I was in Sunhome on a wander when called to the guild mages chamber. "We have an incoming transmission for you…"

I entered the room to find the current Aven ambassador on the view screen. "Greetings commodore!" She beamed. My pact was good. I had called on my secret weapon early…

"But I'm a fleet captain in the fledgling Boros Navy, and could use a few ships…"

"How many squadrons?"

"How many can you spare?" I asked. _Squadrons?_

"For you, three or four."

"Wow! Thanks! That's much more than I expected…'

"Where are we going?" The ambassador asked.

"Through a rift and to Ravnica. I have sent the coordinates of the rift on your side. It exits inside Ravi's hyper limit." I concluded.

The ambassador signed off with, "See you in about three weeks."

"Just how many ships are coming here?" A guild mage asked.

"60 to 80, and they will be at least gen-8 to make it here that fast."

* * *

Two weeks later and I awoke with both Sara and Razia. It was a rather interesting awakening as both angels had a downy feeling to them. _Cute little baby feathers!_ It wasn't long before a hail, from the bridge, interrupted us.

"We have an interesting hail from a _Nova_ class scout ship that just entered the system," john informed.

"Patch it through," I ordered.

An Aven captain appeared in the viewer. "I am captain Anthielya of _The Shrewd_. Greetings from the fourth scouting squadron."

"Greetings! You're early!"

"Well, our squadron will be both the first and the last one in. We are scattered all over a few quadrants and will be arriving singly. The second rapid response squadron should be here next week!"

* * *

We had paired _The Shrewd_ with _Nimbus III_, so our two smallest ships had each other for support. Relar had returned with a _Valdore_ class cruiser, slightly larger than his _Mogai_ class. That made it the most powerful ship in the system! Another three _Nova's_ arrived over the next week, and were put into a single flight.

* * *

Then the rift was stormed. Our scanners indicated a ship arriving through the rift every minute. Then twenty minutes later, a squadron of _Defiant_ class escorts headed for Ravnica.

Razia and Sara were in the guild mage's chambers. "Well, I guess if they are all small ships…" Razia trailed off.

"Actually that class is akin to the _Parhelion II's_ little brother. They are even more overpowered and over gunned for their size. Pure fighting machines," Sara replied.

"Oh," was Razia's response.

"We are being hailed," the head guild mage announced.

"On screen," Razia commanded.

Valennon, the Aven ambassador appeared on the screen. "Greetings … er, um, where is commodore Michael?"

"_Fleet captain_ Michael is currently indisposed. I am Razia."

"Holiest, I see. Greetings from the Aven Federation!" The ambassador had been briefed on her titles.

"Call me Razia. Anyone who is such a friend of Stephen is a friend of mine."

"If it weren't for Stephen, our race would be wiped out long ago. Because of the commodore, we have flourished into a small federation of colonies, and a few others. May I introduce you to captain Del'tane."?

"Excuse me?"

Sara interrupted. "Are you the descendant of ambassador Del'tane?"

"Greetings Angel Sara! Yes I am!" Apparently the story of the angel had been passed down the generations in that family. It's a small multi-verse after all. "And if you are still interested, the Thule system is still thriving and growing."

"That is good news, thank you," Sara responded. "And I assume Lorne is a thriving member of the Aven Federation?"

"Yes it is, thank you. But can you tell us when Stephen Michael will be available? We need to coordinate…"

"Actually, I do the coordinating as Admiral," Razia stated.

"Then we need to confer, as our squadron is inbound…" the settling out of the squadrons' disposition went smoothly as both Razia and captain Del'tane worked out the protocols.

* * *

I was down on Tin Street. I had a few Minotaurs flanking me as I was shadowing a Romulan. He seemed unaware of our presence. Stupid, but when did Romulans encounter Minotaurs before? As long as he didn't clue into who I was, we could follow with impunity. But then I was wearing a magical cloak. Just because I can't cast magic, it doesn't mean that I can't _use_ magic. We were following, to figure out what he was up to. It didn't take us long. Then we planned on making yet another Romulan 'disappear'.

"Greetings from the new Praetor," a voice said from the alley. We pressed ourselves against the wall. The voice was from a Romulan female. I signaled the Minotaurs to surround them.

"Greetings. Relar has gone too far. His gamut threatens to destroy the future of the rebuilding Romulan Empire. This vendetta against one man will get out of hand, as the target is the favorite of one of the official guilds of this planet, the warriors' guild," the sub-commander replied. _That's a new development_, I thought.

"They are the most powerful guild on the planet?"

"Yes, and the Wojeks, the police here, are one of their divisions, and they enforce the laws as they interpret them. All we need is an anti-Romulan edict and the entire planet's police will be gunning for us," sub-commander Telus answered.

"Then we need to contact this Stephen," the new voice said. "But how to do that?"

"How about talking to me directly!" I shouted across the way. Both Romulans turned towards me. I stepped out of the alley and into view.

Both Romulans came out of hiding and were comfortable being surrounded by Minotaurs. "Stephen. Sorry about Relar's recent attack. The Romulan government did not sanction it! Please accept my apologies from the new Praetor. There is a division in the Romulan high command, with the Praetor's faction against a revival of the Tal'Shiar, which happened after Relar's return."

"Are both of you willing to risk a beam to the _Parhelion II_?" I asked.

"A long as we can be returned in a timely fashion," the female Romulan stated.

A quick transport and we were on the bridge of the _'Helion_. Razia was shocked when I appeared on the bridge with two Romulans in tow. "What are _they_ doing here?" She asked.

"Hear us out, please, holiest!" That was the first time that the Romulans used Razia's proper title! "Relar's war here is _NOT_ sanctioned by the Romulan government. But the Empire is fractioned, and a faction supports Relar. We can't stop him, but we can help…" The female Romulan stated. "By the way, I am commander Selnar of the Romulan Navy. I have a cloaked _Valdore_ class cruiser in orbit. I have our transponder code so you can track us, and please don't shoot us down. We are actually on your side!"

"If our war is only against Relar and his Romulans, then, in the name of Justice I will hold the rest of the Romulans as neutral or allies," Razia stated.

"But what of the threat to exterminate all the Romulans?"

"That was my letter to Relar," I responded. "I was really pissed off that he burned my angels that I sent out that letter. It was rather rash…"

"I see. Did he actually burn-"

"Look at our feathers! Both Sara and I will take another month to grow these back! Relar has to go down for justice to be served. Stephen was just spouting off because he loves us." Razia stated.

"OK. I will officially apologize for the Romulan Praetor for your loss. We will put some of our assets with your disposal, until Relar is defeated. My ship is at your disposal."

"And what about you, sub-commander Telus?" I asked.

"I am on Selar's side. Although I work for Relar, I don't believe in this vendetta. In fact about half of his crew thinks this is an exercise in futility. We have nothing to gain and a whole lot to lose. The Romulan Empire is recovering, and we would rather have allies and customers of our wares than enemies. But I have to walk a fine line as Relar's new sub-commander! I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. If you have the 'nads, you can be Selar's contact within his faction. Talking to another Romulan can be the excuse you need to escape if caught. You can say there is a new ship arriving and you are briefing it on your strategies. That should keep you alive under Relar," I stated.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" Telus asked.

"Actually no. But I have done many similar things in my life … and if all else fails use the J-24 channel. If we can an emergency beam out can be done."

"Thank you. I didn't expect this compassion from you…"

"If you are not my enemy then why can't we be friends? But … I do expect a case of Romulan Ale the next time we meet!" A signal to Allan and the Romulans were beamed back to the surface.

"That was a different turn of events," Razia stated.

"But not totally unexpected," I replied.

"What?" Razia was shocked.

"The Romulan Empire has been, from time to time, under chaos," I replied. "They have been divided, and almost under civil war. This happens about once a century, if history is reliable."

"So what do we do?" Razia finally asked.

"We wipe out Relar's faction so the Romulan Empire can grow without his influence. Then if we wish, we can become customers of their wares, or allies, or representatives of their Empire to Ravnica, or just neutral observers. The choice is ours. It's your guild," I concluded.

* * *

A surprise came on the fourth week. The rift was again stormed, this time by the _Aegis_ class cruisers of the first tactical response squadron. This ship was larger than the _'Helion_. Essentially a 'skinny _Sovereign_' they had the same firepower on a hull half the displacement. By the end of the week we would have 61 new ships at our command. Then our subspace relay detected an outbound transit through the rift. Apparently Relar decided to sneak out…

A message came in from commander Selnar. Relar is probably going to get a squadron of ships and return in force. Then another message, this time from Teysa. Two more ships willing to join in on the fun, both with cloaking devices. We will use the time until Relar's return to build and install cloaks on all the ships.

* * *

It took four months before an invisible rift transit occurred. Then another, each minute, until 24 ships transited the rift. Relar was back, with 24 cloaked of the line. We moved the orbital facilities into low orbit, but held them in station keeping above Sunhome. The antimatter reactor was fired up, and the phasers and photons were armed.

I was on the bridge when a data chirp came in. K'Tee spoke up. "You better take a look at this."

I walked over to the communication station. On screen was a list of 24 ships. Name, type, and cloaking shield frequency! "It looks like sub-commander Telus came through after all!"

"What was that about sub-commander Telus?" Razia asked upon entering the bridge with Sara.

"Telus just handed the Romulan fleet to us on a silver platter," I answered. "We have their cloaking frequencies, so we know where everybody is, since Selnar gave us hers, and Teysa's and ours are the same. Plus, there are 5 ships with dual shields. K'Tee, send that out to our fleets, narrow band please, and get me Selnar." Soon, Selnar's face was on the view screen. "You might want to sit this one out and watch. That way you won't have to fire upon your countrymen."

"Thank you but no captain. This is an internal matter of the Empire, and our involvement is necessary. I'd rather deputize you as honorary Romulans for this battle," Selnar replied.

"I will accept the deputization for our allied fleet," Razia answered.

"Then let's go kill Relar," Selnar ordered.

* * *

Relar was confused. He had returned with 4 flights of ships. Six _Valdores_ under him directly, six _Mogai's_, under now commander Telus, Six _D'deridex_ class under commander Maielak, and finally a flight of _P'veer_ class light cruisers. _But where was the enemy? There were no other ships in the system! When I left there were 46 of them, 20 of them large cruisers_. "Sub-commander, order the other flights onto their targets. We are going to take out Sunhome."

Each of the four flights broke off, the small _P'veer_ class flight remaining on the rift. The flight of _Mogai's_ broke up and headed out of the system. Their trajectories said that they would go over the hyper wall and surround the system. Relar expected we would make a run for it. The _Valdores_ and _D'deridexes_ continued towards Ravnica. As the ships approached the planet, Relar could see that the orbital facilities were moved. _That won't save them_, Relar thought_. I will de-cloak, destroy them, and re-cloak before you can lock on Sunhome's weapons._

* * *

The guild mages were plotting the movements between the fleets. All 20 _Aegis_ ships were sent in to shadow the _D'deridexes_. The _Defiants_ were sent in five's to take on the _Mogais_. That way they could take on 4 of them with certainty that they would be able to destroy them and move on. The other two were not moving into position but following the main fleet. That would be the _Makar_ and the _Terix_. Commander Telus had managed to move the loyalists onto those two ships, quietly eliminated the Tal'Shiar crewmembers and took over. The scouts were to keep an eye on the _P'veer_ class, but not to engage. One _Valdore_ had broken from the flight and was making a run at the planet. It was making an attack run at the orbital facilities. The guild mages had already locked 2 type-22 phasers on it. Arcus was the guild mage on tactical, fingers on the triggers. "As soon as he starts to de-cloak, fire!" The head guild mage ordered.

The ship just started to appear when Sunhome fired two phasers at it. Without shields it didn't stand a chance. The first struck the middle of the starboard wing blasting off the starboard warp nacelle. The second hit the base of the neck and sliced into the engineering hull. The ship erupted onto a ball of plasma.

A second _Valdore_ moved in on the orbitals. This time we weren't waiting. Six ships surrounding the dry-docks de-cloaked, and opened fire. The _Aleya_ sported 2 type three phaser cannon, but the _Fantom_ was refitted with _four_ of them. The _Fantom_ was just one big set of guns that just happened to move. The _Fury_ and _Nimbus III_ were here as were Teysa's ships. The second _Valdore _became debris raining down on the skies of Ravnica. Then the _Aegis_ cruisers de-cloaked and opened fire on the _D'deridexes_. They were operating in groups of 5 and all were targeting a single war bird. Twenty type three phaser cannon hits turned the ship into debris. When they swung around the next one was taken out.

Relar had ordered a general retreat, and the rest of the ships were moving for the rift. The _P'veer's_ weren't waiting around either. But only half of them made it through the rift, as the _Nova's_ ganged up and pounced. The last three joined their larger brethren enriching the system with heavy metals. I didn't give the four _Mogais_ good odds either. We heard an open transmission.

"Telus! So this how you repay me!" Relar roared.

Telus replied, "I am loyal … to the Praetor!" His ship de-cloaked and fired on Relar's. But both of them knew each other's cloaking frequencies, and the _Valdore_ was much more powerful than a _Mogai_. Then another _Valdore_ de-cloaked and fired on Relar.

* * *

I was sitting at the ops console on the _'Helion_. We hadn't moved, sitting on the top of Sunhome all this time. I fired up the ships drives and lifted off. Razia and Sara entered the bridge. "Where are we going?"

"To kill two birds with one stone," I replied. I wasn't leaving the atmosphere. A brief flight and I was hovering over a part of the surface of Ravnica.

Razia saw the course that I plotted. "Um, you are going to fly into the ground…"

"That's street level, not the ground," I replied as I engaged the engines. We smashed through the thin layer here and the entire ship entered the under-city. We came to a hover facing Duskmantle. "Arm the torpedoes, if you will."

Razia had a huge grin as she crossed to tactical. "Torpedoes armed," she replied.

"It's your turn!"

Razia launched a _full spread_ of torpedoes into Duskmantle. One torpedo was quite sufficient. But half a gigaton of antimatter explosives was sure to remove Duskmantle, and anything within 20 kilometers of it. There was a new reclamation zone on Ravnica.

* * *

When we reached orbit, we took stock of the carnage. Relar had been defeated in detail, but the lucky bastard had made it through the rift. Unfortunately for the new Tal'Shiar, only one _D'deridex_ and Relar's _Valdore_, along with three _P'veers _made it. The Tal'Shiar fleet was truly decimated. Our losses were minimal. Two _Aegis_ cruisers were destroyed, and another two were damaged. Many of the _Novas_ were damaged but only minimally. The 'home' fleet and all the _Defiants_ came through unscathed. Telus' _Mogai_ was quite beat up, and he needed a tow to our dry-dock. Arai's _Mogai_ and Selnar's _Valdore_ were only moderately damaged. We had the dry-dock space to do some yard work.

* * *

Celebration time on Ravnica! True to his word, Telus had a case of Romulan ale. We were having a huge buffet in one of Sunhome's halls. Teysa was there as well as Pivlic. Selnar, Telus and Arai were there with a few of their officers. Razia and Sara, a few guild mages other crew were here. The Aven ambassador and some Aven captains were here. With Del'tane and a few Van'aar officers, were in attendance as well. This was a party! Other angels and crew flitted in an out as they saw fit, but food and drink were free flowing, and our new found Romulan friends were made to feel at home.

"Even though Relar survived, he will now be in disgrace," Selnar stated. We were sitting together at the head table.

"What makes you say that?" Razia asked.

"He just lost half of the Tal'Shiar's ships, and gained nothing. The Praetor's ships are still intact, and now outnumber the Tal'Shiar by almost a factor of three." Selnar Replied.

"As well as gaining a pair of _Mogai_ cruisers," Telus added.

The evening went well, and I retired with Sara and Razia on each side. They had to hold me up as the effects of the Romulan ale were telling.

* * *

A week later the three Romulan ships were leaving this universe, and heading to Romulus. We bid our farewells, and watched them pass through the rift. The Avens had already left, and it was quiet about Ravnica again.


	7. On a Good Day

**7: ON A GOOD DAY**

The month after the Romulan battle went by awfully quietly. Only one freighter entered the system, and landed at Teysa's spaceport. Perhaps nobody wanted to take on the Boros now since the newssheets were all over the story. _Piss the Boros angels off, and the sky will be full of starships_! There were a lot of reporters coming and going from Sunhome the week following the battle, and the Orzhov wanted compensation for the damages caused. We told them to see Teysa, as her ships were also involved. That shut them up. Then there is this new crater in the outskirts of Ravnica City. At 15 kilometers across there is a whack of prime bedrock real estate available. The Azorius were fuming, as they had not authorized the action. I gently reminded them that a single torpedo can be down loaded, making the crater just a touch bigger than the footprint of a single building, such as Prahv, their senate. That shut them up also. The _Parhelion II_ just so happened to be facing the senate when I mentioned this! Most other guilds were keeping their noses clean and staying away from the Wojeks on the streets.

The _Fantom_, _Fury_ and _Aleya_ were back in mothballs as their borrowed Aven crews had returned home. We weren't waiting around though. Three new _Ares_ class cruisers were building at our docks.

* * *

I awoke with both Sara and Razia. Finally their feathers had grown back and we no longer needed blankets on the bed. _OK, I didn't need blankets on the bed._ What do we face next?

A quick check of the newssheets didn't reveal anything. All is quiet on the Ravnica front. And all is quiet from my mana-less universe according to our subspace relay…

Down time? Just relax and have a few new academies to bolster our starship ranks? Enjoy our company and let things be?

I planned on just enjoying the company of my two angels. But events conspired against that, in a good way, as I was making my speech to another batch of cadets. This time the _Nimbus III_ was parked on the garrison in Utvara, as that building became our academy building. Since the battle the number of recruits had grown! The _Nimbus_ would be packed with cadets!

* * *

"Hard about!" I ordered as a spread of torpedoes struck our aft port shield. "Roll ship!"

The _'Helion_ flipped onto its side as she swung around presenting her top shield pole to the enemy. Two type three phaser cannons and another spread of torpedoes slammed into the shield poles.

"Shields holding, but barely. Outer shields are down," Sara announced from ops. The _Aleya_ flashed past at warp 7. "She's coming about!'

"John, arm all forward weapons. Razia prepare to execute evasive pattern theta, followed by attack plan alpha, on my mark," I ordered. Razia and Sara were on ops, John was on tactical, and Pense was on engineering. We waited. I was ticking down the time when Ericanj would be planning the killing blow into my backside. "Maya?"

"Not yet … wait … energy build up on target!"

"Razia, execute!"

Razia's fingers flew across the control board, the _'Helion_ rolled to port, 'slammed on the brakes', then flipped back to starboard while accelerating. We watched the _Aleya's_ torpedoes go by, his phasers, a full strike, went wide. Then all of a sudden he was right in front of us. "Fire!" I ordered.

John had locked on and fired everything. It crawled up the _Aleya's_ backside and slammed into their shields. The computers registered the hits, assigned the damage and shut down the appropriate systems. The _Aleya _stopped dead in the water.

"All right, stand down from the exercise and hail the _Aleya_," I ordered. That meant the weapon settings would go from training mode to full power.

K'Tee fired up the comm., and Ericanj's face was on the view screen. "Where did that come from? I had you dead to rights, and all of a sudden you shoot my engineering section out from under me?"

"I still have a few tricks up my sleeve yet. Just because you command a big powerful ship you do need to avoid getting cocky. Actually I set you up. I deliberately took the first spread of torpedoes before rolling ship. You fell to the classic: being suckered in! Have your bridge crew report to my briefing room for debriefing," I finished with.

* * *

After the debriefing we were in the lounge. Alejo and Ericanj were picking my brains about ship tactics and how to avoid obvious mistakes. Alejo was Ericanj's X.O. for this training exercise. Both still needed some more center seat time, and a return to the auto-teacher, which was in the process of being duplicated. An entire bay was being devoted to them on board the _Nimbus_. It would accelerate the training program enormously, as we had a lot of new recruits to train – three ships worth! Currently even the _Aleya_ was fully staffed as the crew of the _Nimbus_ was aboard for the exercise. There were so many recruits that every available body was put aboard to train the large number of cadets. But I retired early, as Sara dragged me out of the lounge…

* * *

I woke up in Sara's arms. Razia was elsewhere. She was just hugging me, but didn't say a word. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's just a feeling I have. I don't know why, but today I don't want to let you go," Sara answered.

"Then don't," I replied as I hugged her. Both of us weren't letting go, so there we lay…

Eventually Razia entered our quarters, and came to a stop as she saw us embracing. "What's with this?"

"Sara has a feeling I shouldn't leave this bed today," I answered.

"Then don't!" Razia stated as she crawled into bed with us. "Bridge, the flag crew will not be available today. John has the con," Razia ordered over the intercom. We were heading back to Ravnica from our designated training ground, and would take another day to get there anyways. So we hung out in our quarters, watching 20th and 21st century movies. Sara finally saw Jaws! She found it humorous, as she didn't understand why they just didn't get some big weapons out and just kill it. But that's not the point of a movie! I even found the mythbusters episode… But that didn't matter as an angelic feeling was not to be ignored!

* * *

We awoke the next day in Ravnica's system, less than an hour from our perch atop Sunhome. "How do you feel today?" I had to ask Sara.

"Fine, I don't have that feeling," Sara answered.

"So what was it?" I had to ask.

"I don't know! It just was a feeling of dread. And as an angel those feelings usually lead to something." Sara stated. We avoided the dread.

"How are we this morning?" Razia asked.

"Apparently fine! There is nothing in our way, as far as I know!" I stated. I felt nothing new. The skies were clear, and there was nothing out there, but Sara's feelings from yesterday. "Hey maybe we just needed a down day without some burns. Relar is still out there, and I bet Szadeck is too. It seems that you can't kill someone who is already dead."

"Unfortunately, being dead doesn't mean you don't have work to do on Ravnica. Just ask Kos," Razia mentioned.

"So, after my five millennia…"

"If you want, we will try to bring you back. It won't be the ideal existence, but we can love you still," Razia answered. "I want you forever if I can!"

"Works for me," I responded with.

* * *

The '_Helion_ landed atop Sunhome, while the _Aleya_ returned to dock in orbit. A quick check with the guild mages – there was absolutely nothing stirring on Ravnica. It was quiet. _Too quiet_! Maybe that's what Sara had picked up on. Edana checked in on Centerfort, and it too quiet there as well. The Wojeks were getting edgy, as even the usual instances of petty crimes and street violence had seemingly disappeared overnight. Not even a kill-suit cultist to be found!

We descended on the Imp's Wing. Teysa arrived when she was notified that we were dropping in. Pivlic has a special dinner planned. There were a lot of angels and companions in the Imp's Wing. This was going to be celebration round two! And Pivlic's' crew did an awesome job on dinner.

* * *

I awoke to Sara's iron grip again. Looks like the dread has returned! But this time Razia was here and she wasn't letting go either. "You feel it too?" I asked Razia.

"Yes I do. It's really a strange feeling! Like if we let you go something terrible will befall you," Razia replied.

"Now what could be worse than being engulfed by plasma?"

"That's the problem. This feeling is that something worse will happen, if we even break physical contact with you this time," both Sara and Razia replied.

"All right on the count of three, let go of me," I ordered. "1 … 2 … 3" both angels let go, for almost a whole second! "See, I didn't burst into flames or anything. Lets try that for 5 seconds." The 5 seconds passed by uneventfully. "Want to go for a whole minute?"

"… OK …" _They really sound enthusiastic about this_… A minute later and absolutely nothing out of the order happened.

"Still have that feeling?"

CLAMP! "Yes!" Both angels responded. There were beads of sweat on both their foreheads, and it looks as if the separation for even a minute was somewhat painful to them. Back to where we started…

I decided to call the bridge, initially to tell them the flag's are down again.

Nergat answered, "Where is everybody? No one showed!"

"What do you mean, no one showed?" I asked.

"None of the officers showed up for duty! There's only Anezka and myself on the bridge. There are precisely two ensigns and three cadets in engineering. Nobody's in medical!" Nergat replied.

"Put Anezka on, will you?"

"Anezka here," she replied

"How do you feel this morning?"

"What a strange question. I feel fine just like I normally do," Anezka answered.

"So you are fine. Patch John in. He should be still in his quarters," I ordered.

"Bridge to captain Gardner,"

"John here. I seem to have a problem," he replied.

"Let me guess. It has to do with a death grip that Pense has on you, doesn't it," I guessed.

"How did you know?"

"Trying to deal with two simultaneously. Hang in there. Anezka, I need you to get … let's see … Ashni from the _Nimbus_ and go to my quarters." I hit the intercom. "Ensign Calrea Estefan, report to the bridge. Ensign Tristana, report to engineering. Ensign Peilanne Lorekeeper and ensign Reatha Kane report to medical."

Anezka and Ashni arrived at our quarters. "Enter," I commanded they entered and … stopped. They did not know what to make if the situation. There I was with both Razia and Sara wrapped around me, _both absolutely refusing_ to let go. Ashni came to her senses first and pulled out her tricorder, scanning us.

"Physically there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. No abnormalities in essential body function, even angelic backup systems. Elevated seratonin levels in Stephen, but not out of range."

"Then it's not physical. It's magical. Here's what I need you to do. I need both of you to help separate us and then I need you to check over the life links," I ordered.

"The life links?" Ashni queried.

"It's the only thing I can think of, as every life linked angel is in this boat and every one not is just fine."

"So that's why you got me over from the _Nimbus III_." Ashni concluded.

"And get Concordia to look in on Erela."

So that's what we did, for a whole minute. Then I was stuck in my angel sandwich again. "Something has definitely tampered with your life links! It is strong and black!" The shock on both their faces told the tale. Even Anezka with no medical training sensed it.

I contacted the bridge, "Red Alert. Shields up! Have all non-bonded crew report to their stations. Cloak the ship and put it into a random standard orbit. Order the _Nimbus_ to do the same."

As soon as we leapt into the sky, both Razia and Sara let go. "It's gone!" They both exclaimed at once. I hit the intercom, "All life linked angels report in."

Sure enough everyone was back to normal. "All right stand down from red alert. Maintain shields and cloak and orbit. Alpha shift please report to your stations when ready." Shutting down the intercom, "Anezka and Ashni, please meet us in medical in about 30 minutes." The two angels left us to get ready. The next two hugs were normal and sincere.

In medical I had the spectrum analyzer up and Ashni was trying to match the spectrum to what she sensed. What she came up with was oddly familiar. But the shift was different from the one surrounding Sara. The ugly purple was there in spades, as was some green, instead of blue. Once she was sure we had a match, I sent the spectrum to sciences. I wanted a full scan of the planet and surrounding area for such a spectrum. We found a whole whack of point sources on the planet but nothing powerful enough to affect two starships thousands of kilometers apart. "They are all Golgari down there," Razia informed. "Makes sense. They use black and green mana."

"But what did that to us was capable of penetrating a ships structural integrity field, apparently over quite the distance. Either raising shields blocked it, or it's directional. That means that they now can't find us, and we can't find them if they are switched off. I'll be down in sciences,"

"What are we doing there?" Razia asked.

"Going over the sensor logs of our trip in," I answered. "I bet that we were hit by this thing before, and somebody has been doing some improving on the first version."

* * *

I was pouring over the sensor logs of our return trip to Ravnica, especially the time scan that corresponded with Sara's feeling of dread. I was looking for a point source that matched the spectrum, and wasn't finding it. But then … that's a flash that's awfully close! I had missed it, but Razia didn't. The spectrum was almost the same, but not quite. But a source was beaming a black mana based beam at the _'Helion_ that entire day. Unfortunately, there was no visible source of the signal.

"That's because it's cloaked," I stated. Now it was time to hunt for the telltale sins of a cloaked ship at the beam source. It didn't take long to find it. The cloak was as old as generation 5 or 6. The size of the signal told me exactly what it was – I'd seen it before, an Orion cruiser. And it was parked less than 1000 km off our port beam. The only reason we didn't see it originally was the fact that we weren't looking for it. It looks like either a test, or an unsuccessful attack run.

Now we knew what we were looking for. A quick crew shuffle and we returned to our perch atop Sunhome. It looks as if Endara has a new toy!

* * *

I woke up the next morning, back in a double death-grip. But that was expected. "Stephen to bridge," I called over the intercom

"On it!" Anezka replied. "Sciences go!" She ordered from the bridge.

It took less than a minute to locate the offending signal. It was coming from orbit. _That cloaked ship again_. "It does look like Endara has tuned up his weapon. Bring up shields to minimum," I ordered the bridge.

As soon as the shield came on, both Sara and Razia let go, Sara giving me a 'thumbs up'. "Order the station to triangulate," I ordered. The currently crewless _Nimbus_ was docked to the station. Everyone at stations in the _'Helion_ were currently unbonded!

Soon we had the coordinates of the offending ship. Anezka cloaked the ship and sure enough the beam disappeared. The unknown ship was still beaming the uncloaked Nimbus.

_Good. Lets go kill it._ But stuck in bed this was Anezka's show, along with Nergat et al. By the time we got ready, the show was over. But then the show was only five minutes long. The _'Helion_ sneaked up on the other ship, de-cloaked and fired its phaser cannon. The Orion was cut cleanly in half, and two torpedoes removed the halves. There were no survivors. _Let's hope Endara was onboard…_

* * *

Another month went by without any feelings of dread. Yet another packed starship academy was held. Apparently the Golgari didn't have the funds for a backup ship. We may have eliminated one of our alphabet soup of problems facing the Boros!

We had an official christening ceremony, including an orbiting bottle of champagne. The _Aleya_ was finally fully crewed, and officially entered service, _captain_ Ericanj commanding_. Commander_ Alejo was formally inducted to the command of the _Nimbus III_. We had a new training crew, and a second starship crewed. But there were still three new _Ares_ class cruisers building, and even converted to angel decks they needed a crew of about 200 to man, each. That means we need 600 new recruits!

* * *

I awoke with both my angels again. Nothing out of the ordinary, but then the bridge contacted us. A message had come into Sunhome sometime during the night. The _Inquisitor's Omen_ was coming into dock with our space station. There was apparently a late delivery from Avalon. Well, Bant actually. At least Elspeth and Reya. Apparently Jace had his starship visit Alara and was convinced to bring back a cargo to Ravnica – angels. This time there was a whole shipload of them! There were 90, all refugees from the late Serra's Realm. And Jace's goblins didn't try to take their heads for war drums!

"OK, we have an inbound invasion of angel neophytes," I mentioned. "Are they in for a shock," I concluded.

"But if they join us we can slowly fill out our new ship crews," Razia responded. "I think that your opening speech should convince them, otherwise they aren't Boros material in the first place."

* * *

It took a bit to settle in this number of angels. Many had questions, which I decided to answer at this time, with my usual forthrightness. We needed them to integrate with the training as soon as possible, so the training would be done in the whole fleet. They worked with our crew, both angels and mortals, to integrate as starship crew. The _Nimbus_ was fully packed, as was the _Aleya_. We had enough people; both angels and mortals, to man another _Ares_ class cruiser!

* * *

Crew shuffling time again! Promotions and some good-byes always make this time bittersweet. We were at the point where the _Aleya_ was fully crewed, as was the _'Helion_. Time to build up a pool for our next three ships. There were now 207 angels wearing the Boros uniform! It looked like we were going to start yet another starship academy, but there was yet a new development, this time from my own mana-less universe. Some of my former crew, as well as a number of new adventure seekers had booked passage to Ravnica. Their ship landed on Teysa's spaceport in Utvaria, but they were seeking he rift runner.

* * *

I was in Pravh, debriefing the Azorius about the threats to Ravnica. They were originally going to arrest me as a war criminal, but decided not to. Something about the fact that if the angels wanted me back they would start lobbing torpedoes, and would end up nuking the entire city. That meant that I effectively had immunity, much to the chagrin of Leonios II.

Oh, well. But it was time to educate the Azorius on the 'facts of life', as I saw them.

"Now, don't for a minute feel like you have gotten off Scott free," the Grand Arbiter said. "It's just that I do not wish to go to war with the Boros angels…"

"Don't worry, the angels would not destroy Prahv. They would simply beam me back to the _'Helion_. Whether I would destroy Prahv when I was back is another story," I replied.

"How would they do that?"

"The same way we beamed straight to the chorus of the conclave through all their magical defenses. There isn't any magic barrier that could stand up to a starship if we really wanted in," I concluded.

"… I see," Leonios II responded. "But to the matter at hand. Exactly what happened during this battle?"

"OK. For starters, you need to know a little about the universe that I came from," I answered. "It is a vast universe that stretches across many galaxies. Your entire universe consists of a sphere just over 50 parsecs in radius, and it contains just over 15 thousand stellar systems.

"And how much of this 'universe' have you explored?" The grand arbiter asked.

"Only about 100 systems so far," I mentioned. "The Boros Angels have just started to explore the Ravnican universe."

"And in your own universe?"

"At least 8000 systems spread out over 7000 parsecs." That is a minimum, based on the forays into the unknown, as well as routes taken by exploration ships throughout the ages on a mission of discovery.

"And the ships doing the job of exploring those systems?" The grand arbiter queried.

"Well, there is the _Nimbus III_. But in general the mana-less universe is left too its own devices."

"And our universe?"

"That is the jurisdiction of the Boros angels. I will _NOT_ second-guess Razia. Her purpose will be revealed in time." I was not going to reveal our secret plans to the Azorius. They will have to wait just like the rest of the planet. "But back to your question, the space battle was essentially between the Dimir and the Boros. Szadek had allied himself with a Romulan faction, under one commander Relar. He rolled in with 24 large Romulan war birds. Since the Boros has only 5 operational ships and the Orzhov have 2, we needed external help. I called in a favor and brought in a fleet of Aven ships from my mana-less universe. Thus we actually outnumbered Relar. The fight was actually short and sweet, with Relar's losing badly. To bring closure, we also destroyed Duskmantle."

"Yes, with a massive amount of damage. You mentioned to the newssheets that an entire spread of torpedoes was fired at the building. Was one sufficient?" Leonios II asked.

"In my opinion, yes. But with Razia herself pulling the trigger, and her history, she was trying to make sure. That's the problem of trying to kill someone who's already dead."

"I see. So you didn't order that much destruction?"

"Of course not! But by now you should know one of Razia's mottoes," I answered.

"Which one?"

"Only the chosen are spared," I answered.

"Oh, that one. It figures. She coined that one after dropping her purification spell on some poor bastard. Have you seen it? It's pretty impressive," Leonios II mentioned.

"As a matter of fact I have," I replied. "But not on Ravnica. But get used to it. If House Dimir is still operational they have access to starships. And the Izzet is building an orbital dry-dock, so they as well as the Boros and Orzhov will have ships here."

"I have also heard that there is a brisk small arms trade as well…"

"That you will have to talk to the Orzhov about. The Boros is not in the arms business except as a customer." I went on, "There is a spaceport in Utvaria, so if your are looking to buy I'd go there."

"So if people on Ravnica appear with weapons from your universe?"

"Then you'd better have an appropriate response. Even a disruptor pistol can put someone on par with a guild mage. Look, things are changing here on Ravnica. The rift to my mana-less universe is now stable, and the technology of that place is now available. You can't put the genie back in the bottle," I concluded. That ended the meeting with the Azorius. Whether they liked the information given or not, It isn't my problem.


	8. Rooster

**8: ROOSTER**

It was a sunny day about Sunhome. I wasn't on call so I was down at Pivlic's tavern, again. A couple of drinks of Romulan Ale and I was fairly pickled. So the trip home was interesting, at best. _Got my pills against mosquito death … my buddy's breathing his dying breath …_

Boy was I in a funky mood. Memories of the 20th century flooded back. It was not necessarily a pleasant time to be alive.

_They come to snuff the rooster…_

I woke up with a target on my forehead. They were coming for me. Of that I was sure. Why, I didn't know. But they were coming. Was it another version of the black life link interrupter? But with no angels to keep me company, I definitely felt alone.

* * *

Then I awoke to Sara's embrace. Was it just a dream?

"Where's Razia?" I had to ask

"On the bridge," Sara replied. She was definitely puzzled by my question.

"Razia, report to our quarters, please," I sent over the intercom.

It took a few minutes but Razia entered our quarters. She found us still in bed. It was a bit to explain…. but a song from my past … Rooster…

"They are definitely NOT coming to snuff the Rooster!" Razia stated. "You were just dreaming that last night. By the way where would you find that much jungle to hide in?"

"In a place called Viet Nam, on my home planet – in the past. So you felt the dream?"

"Of course. You can't keep secrets from us!" Razia yanked me out of bed and gave me an embrace. "Don't worry about it! Your job is to keep us on the rescue, so my job is to love you and keep you around for as long as possible! But just in case, sciences have been alerted to check for black mana beams."

* * *

The next moth passed by rather quickly. Then out of nowhere the dream cropped up again. And no, I deliberately avoided any war movies! Razia woke me up before the dream ended, and gave me a smooch.

"We'll have no more of that," she commanded.

"… OK …"

* * *

Jace had communicated to Sunhome, that his ship would go out to explore the huge mana-less universe. He wanted a guide, so called in to borrow someone from that universe. Since this was expected to be a short trip the angels volunteered … me. They figured getting out and exploring would get my mind off other matters.

* * *

We were headed core-wards, towards Earth and the center of the federation. Or what was left of it. We had found an intriguing signal that I traced back to Omega Leonis, lying some 33 parsecs from Earth. The computer indicated the 4th planet was class M, and was inhabited by a pre-industrial intelligent canine species. That computer entry was dated over 1000 years ago, from the early 29th century.

The signal was coming from a ship in orbit. Advanced looking but oddly asymmetrical. Question was: who are they?

We didn't get a chance to find out. They fired a beam at us, and all of a sudden we were plummeting towards the planet's surface without any engines!

* * *

_Premonition comes true_. Here I was, in a jungle with a bunch of goblins, facing off against, for a lack of a better term, armed kobolds. _All with projectile weapons, it's Viet Nam all over again_. And the angels don't know I'm here …

The only other advanced being here was Jace himself. But as this was a mana-less universe, he was almost as emasculated as I was, when I depleted my phaser charges, and was left with the local weaponry, projectile weapons reminiscent of my past. Hopefully the beacon on _The Inquisitor's Omen_ was actually working, or this was going to be a short career.

_Ain't found a way to kill me yet  
Eyes burn with stinging sweat  
seems every path leads me to nowhere_

"This weapon as called an assault rifle," I explained to Jace. "It fires a chemically accelerated projectile of about 8 grams mass, at a speed of mach 3. Good enough to take out any unarmored target…"

"I notice nobody here has any armor," Jace replied.

"Amazing that," I answered. "And the guy with the belt fed weapon is the Rooster."

"That would be you!"

"Unfortunately …" But I was left with the adage: 'do the best you can with what you got.'

_Walkin' tall machine gun man  
they spit on me and my homeland…_

_Here they come to snuff the rooster, aww yeah  
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah  
You know he ain't gonna die  
No, no, no ya know he ain't gonna die_

* * *

"I do have a name for that ship that shot us down. They are called the Breen," Jace mentioned.

"Like that matters now. The only question important is: Why are they here and do they have anything to do with the natives?" I asked.

"Why is that important?"

"Because it's virtually impossible for these canines to have advanced this far on there own. They had just entered the iron-age one millennia ago. Usually it takes three to five to get this far. And why does it appear that the entire planet is undergoing perpetual warfare? All we have found so far is primitive iron-age dwellings and the only advanced items are weapons? Who is making them, and where?" I questioned. We had yet to find anything larger than a small village, all armed to the teeth, and all aggressive to any outsider. At least they haven't come up with booby traps or IEDs.

* * *

For the last three days we managed to avoid any major encounter with the locals. In the week that the ship had crash-landed we found nothing here that would be of help. Even if we could fix the life support and evade the Breen, it would be a long crawl on impulse engines to any hub of civilization nearby.

* * *

It was late in the day and we didn't make fires, as that would attract the locals. We had found a large village with what appeared to be a small factory in it, and had camped nearby, where we could keep them under surveillance. Tomorrow we would reconnoitre the area.

A bright flash lit up the sky.

"Bolide," I mentioned to Jace.

"That's more than just a Bolide. Look," Jace commanded.

I looked at the incoming fireball. It was debris from a star ship, the Breen by the look of it. "It looks like somebody has just shot down the Breen. Question is who?" I asked.

We didn't have time to discuss it. One of the lookouts warned that the townsfolk were headed this way en mass. Someone must of spotted us by the light of the Bolide.

_Just great, a major firefight at night._

They were pretty slick moving through the trees, too. By now we had enough firearms to arm all the surviving goblins. There were a total of three belt-fed guns. Jace and I each carried one, while a trio of goblins operated the third on a makeshift tripod. I had a target on my forehead. They were coming for me. Of that I was sure. But with no angels to keep me company, I definitely felt alone.

_Deja-vu_.

"Here they come," Jace whispered. Just before they were in range there were flashes in the sky. Then phaser bolts filled the air – the sky full of angels! It was all over before we fired a shot.

Razia landed beside me, and gave me an embrace. "They are definitely NOT coming to snuff the rooster!" She stated. "I wont stand for that!"

Jace was somewhat astonished, both by Razia's appearance but her knowledge about the situation we were in. "How did you know about the rooster?"

"Stephen dreamt this over two months ago. I thought it was just a bad dream, but we decided to follow just in case. Unfortunately we had diverted for Cait when your distress signal came in. We just got here." Razia answered.

"You shot down the Breen!" Jace exclaimed.

"So that's who they were. Their first shot had no effect so we weren't about to let them switch weapons," Razia replied.

"It disables your warp drive in one shot. But apparently your engines are immune," Jace responded.

"Hate to break up the kibitzing, but can we get the hell out of here?" I asked.

Razia chuckled. Then a quick communication and the transporters fired up. I found myself in the transporter rooms of the _'Helion_. I was home. The angels had cuddled with me, to make sure I had 'made it back' and wasn't traumatized by my ordeal. The flurry of wings was a daunting effect! But my two angels took some time to beam up, so I was patient. Then we headed to our quarters …

* * *

I awoke to both my angels, and both seemed to be satisfied by last night's activities. I was eager to demonstrate my appreciation of their mercy! Both of them hugged me close and reassured me of my place in their hierarchy. They may have come to snuff the rooster, but the angels won't let it happen. We were here for each other. Like yin and yang we were stuck with each other, and all appreciated it! We took a while to report to our posts…

When I reached the bridge, John was already there, and relinquished the center seat, taking up ops with Pense. Razia and Sara were at my side. Nergat was in tactical, Maya on sciences, while K'Tee had her usual chair at communications. All seemed OK with the universe again, for now. I can't predict what the future will bring.

* * *

As we approached the rift K'Tee picked up a Romulan transmission. "I just picked up a transmission for our favorite Romulan."

"Relar has another ship?" I asked incredulously.

"Or access to a ships subspace radio," K'Tee replied.

"Unless he was demoted he is still a commander…"

"True," K'Tee answered

Two ships came into sensor range just before they crossed the rift. That meant they would reach Ravnica before we made the rift.

* * *

As soon as we crossed the rift there was a message waiting for us to call Sunhome immediately. Razia walked over to K'Tee's station. Arcus was in the guild mage's chambers when out call came in. "Holiest, we have a problem. Two Romulan ships have taken up an orbit around Ravnica. We intercepted a transmission from one, coming from Relar."

"So destroy those ships!" Razia ordered.

'That's the problem," Arcus replied. "Both ships have proper IFFs from the praetor's fleet."

Razia turned to me. "That is a problem. If the IFFs are true firing on them starts a new war," I explained. "Arcus, do you have scans of those ships?"

"Sending the telemetry now…" Soon I had the scans up on the view screen. I couldn't help but snicker.

"What is so funny at a time like now?" Razia seemed to be a little infuriated with me.

"Those are a pair of K7Rs," I stated. "Called 'storm bird' they were aging ships during my time. Gen-4. They could even be the Praetor's ships. That could mean the Tal'Shiar has surrendered, and this command is Relar's punishment!"

"Punishment?"

"Yes, if the empire is as depleted as we think, the Praetor can't throw away command staff, no matter how rebellious. But he can put them in the crappiest ships possible until they demonstrate their loyalty! When we reach Ravnica I want full scans of those ships."

John replied, "They will pick that up…"

"I want them to notice! We'll de-cloak and perform a complete hull map. That will send a message," I ordered.

We entered orbit un-cloaked, and passed within 10 kilometers of the Romulans. Our scanners were active, and we were not trying to hide the fact. But then again a pair of storm birds would only last a little longer than Jace's ship. We might actually have to fire a second volley to get them both.

* * *

We were down in the guild mages chambers, going over the hull maps while the mages debriefed Razia. They were pretty sure that Relar had taken a shuttle to somewhere in the ghost quarter. I was pretty sure that I had actually been in the building before. A quick check of the satellite records confirmed that a shuttle was sitting on the back terrace of a Dimir safe hold.

"Figures." I thought out loud.

"What figures?" Razia asked as she turned towards me.

"There's a reason those ships entered the system uncloaked. They aren't equipped with cloaking devices," I answered.

"So this punishment detail you spoke off … but why send him here?"

"The ultimate in embarrassment, maybe?" I mused.

"How does that work?" Razia seemed to be confused.

"Simple. He has to parade in front of his former enemies emasculated, and in plain sight. As a creature of duty he has to do this or prove himself unfit. So he does what his Praetor orders. The ultimate test of loyalty combined with the ultimate in humiliating punishment." That brought a smile to my face. "For someone as proud as Relar, this may be a fate worse than death. We'll see if he goes through with it. And if he so much as twitches in the wrong direction we kill him."

That brought a smile to Razia's face. "Not my style of punishment … but I like it."

"Of course not, there's no instant zorching!" That got me another jab to the ribs.

* * *

I awoke to Razia's embrace. It was mid-morning, and we had slept in. _OK, I had slept in_. Razia didn't seem to mind. "So rooster, is the henhouse safe today?"

"I'll let you know when the day is over," I answered.

"Spoken like a true paranoid."

"Just because you are paranoid, it doesn't mean that the universe isn't out to get you…"

Razia pondered that for a while. But for me, it was the start of a new day.


	9. Stealing Time

**9: STEALING TIME**

It was a quiet night in the _Edison_. I was alone in my mana-less universe, heading core wards. _It's amazing how quickly the world can go from bad to total shit storm_, I thought, quoting from _Zombieland_. And I didn't even do it! I was set up! I really was!

Unfortunately I couldn't prove it at the time, but I think I have all the events sorted out. It was that Golgari bastard Endara. It all started out three weeks ago, when that Lyran cruiser came to Ravnica, carrying, of all things, a Kzinti ambassador! Although both feline species, and related to Caitians, they were mutual enemies in my time. During the First General War, the Kzin sided with the Federation and her allies, the Gorn, Hydrans, and the reluctant Tholians. The Lyrans then immediately sided with the Klingons and Romulans. They apparently have been antagonistic to each other ever since. That meant only one thing: The ship was from the WYN star cluster. That little cluster known to humans as the star cluster Stock-2, housed refugees from the Klingon, Lyran and Kzin worlds as well as others. Protected from the outside by a radiation field from a recent supernova (in the 27th century) it was now an open little amalgamation of worlds. Apparently they were in trouble, but through the subspace 'net came a story of a hero…

That would be me. There was a knock at the doors of Sunhome, and a request. Razia denied the request, as she perceived it as not legitimate. Case closed or so I thought. It was a week later when the incident happened. Apparently I entered Sunhome and placed a horned halo on an angel! Like that would ever happen. The angel was Reia, so I could understand the misunderstanding, but at least Razia wasn't affected. But for my sake that wasn't enough. Razia tried to read my thoughts to confirm events but couldn't. So she did what she had to do, however regrettable it was. The last thing before being kicked out of the Legion was the admonishment, "I can sense your new black aura! Go! And enjoy the final gift from us. A long life! May it be the punishment you deserve!" Apparently Endara has a new version of his weapon!

Apparently the life-links can't be broken, so I now faced 5 millennia of loneliness. _Punishment indeed!_ But what to do but carry on? I decided to visit a world I hadn't seen in a couple of millennia, Earth. I some sense I was going home. But I didn't know what awaited me there. The biggest disappointment (as far as I was concerned) was the fact that Sara abandoned me as well! Sara had been with me for 15 years, and the Ravnicans for almost 10. But what was a decade or two to an ageless angel? Sara was almost three millennia old, while Razia was over twelve. Since most of my other companions were bonded to their angels, I was truly alone for the first time in two decades.

And it sucked! It's only been 10 days since I was cast out, and even at warp 12 this trip will take over three more weeks to get to Earth. This runabout seemed emptier than the 7th Sister, after Razia left the first time. It was smaller than the _'Sister_, but had the same shielding, speed and firepower. I had come full circle. I was back to the condition that I started this journey. I did vow to return to Ravnica, to prove it wasn't my fault. Buy how to do that? Fly through the rift, collect mana crystals, and jump to Alara! Perhaps I can enlist Candela's help? But there are Battlegrace angels on Ravnica, so she probably wouldn't give me the time of day. It still might be worth a shot.

* * *

I was slowly entering the solar system. It was all quiet on the subspace bands – too quiet! It felt like Antares all over again. So I was inbound really quietly, as in doggo with only passive scanners. As I slid by Jupiter there was no sign of Jupiter station. A little maneuvering in the asteroid belt and I slid past Mars un-noticed. But then again there was nobody to notice, anyway. The Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards were simply missing. Damn! This was the Federation's third largest shipyards…

Mars itself was barren. The planet was bombed into uninhabitability during the Second General War. What if Earth suffered the same fate?

I found out 6 hours later. Dodging some of the debris still in Earth orbit, I found no signs of human life. All of the cities were ruins, and the 4th and 5th largest shipyards were dust as well. In fact there were few surviving animal species, and most of them were in the oceans. At least the cetatians made it. Apparently the meek shall inherit the Earth…

* * *

I awoke aboard the _Edison_, in orbit around a dead world. I was truly homeless for the first time in my existence. I decided to have coffee and bagels for breakfast, even if both were synthetic. This meal was symbolic. I had no past, and no future. My home world no longer existed; my current family had abandoned me, so the doomsday breakfast was fitting. The big question was … what do I do now?

I decided to land on Earth. The place I chose was a small town in Southwestern Ontario. It was Exeter, the town that I called my home before I died the first time. I landed where the town hall used to be. There was nothing here but the regrowth of meadows, and the deciduous forest the used to be here before humans started farming the region. Nature had reclaimed the town of my first life, just as it had to my second on New Psychonia. Earth was dead. Not as dead as the war-world in the Orion sector, but for me it might s well be. Humanity lived on, but not here. It has abandoned its home, and lives among the stars. Perhaps that is what my fate is as well.

* * *

It was another day aboard the _Edison_. The question is what to do? Then it hit me … the archives. There was Memory Alpha, the main repository of all the Federation's knowledge, but what of Earth's? The repository that I remembered from my section 31 training was that an old cold war command center, in Cheyenne Mountain, had been converted into a data repository. Could it still be there? Only one way to find out…

I landed the _Edison_ outside one of the tunnel entrances to that facility. It was a long walk in. Eventually I found the "main doors" which were naturally, sealed. But that's what a phaser rifle was for. The doors were still the plain steel doors, slowly rusting in the tunnel. It didn't take long to blast my way inside. Now the big question … what to look for. _But what was I really looking for?_ A new quest…

It was serendipity. I came across the "dimensional traveler's files", and actually found myself. I was listed as 12th of about 247 groups that traveled through an inter-dimensional rift. Apparently I was not the only rift runner! So I had a few days of reading ahead of me. I was in search of a home, or at least a mission. Something I could do, if not just to take my mind off of current affairs. My current mission was to sift through the data.

* * *

Then it happened. The 173rd rift runner had found something. That artifact contained, as part of it, a statue of a 4-winged angel! That got my undivided attention. I had to backtrack the data to make sure! But sure enough, there was an artifact that had distinct Boros characteristics. But the data was puzzling. According to the database, this object was located in my mana-less universe. Of the videography of it, the inscriptions were in old Ravi, a dead language. But that was all the information that this archive held. I needed an up to date information list!

That meant a trip to one of the centers of civilization left in the galaxy. I chose Ferasa, the home world of the Caitians. Another month at warp 12 to get there. It was an eye opener! I was sure that Memory Alpha and Beta were destroyed by now (or the Federation would have rebuilt) so that left the few bastions of civilization to go to. I landed the _Edison_ on the planet and headed to the university in the capitol. This was one of the major repositories of knowledge from the Federation. Most of the important species' home worlds had a database almost as good as Memory Alpha…

* * *

Five days of research later (and I was spending 14 hour days here to keep my mind off of things) I found an entry on the artifact. It was simply called "the Unknown Energy Producing Artifact". Nobody knew what it did, or where it was, just that it existed. It was an enigma wrapped in a scavenger hunt. All I knew as the fact that I needed to find it.

* * *

A disruptor bolt lashed out as I was returning to my ship. _That was rather stupid_, I thought. But then again how many people here knew Phaser Kata? It was all over in a few seconds. Then I had a prisoner to deal with.

When she came to, she found herself in my airlock. After the initial panic settled down, it was time to ask questions.

"Who are you?" was the first question.

"Jennifer! Please don't kill me, I was only following orders!" She answered.

"So why take a shot at me?"

"You were researching Ben's artifact, and he sent me to stop you!" She exclaimed.

"What Artifact?" I demanded.

"The energy producing one! Ben has been looking for it for over thirty years!"

"OK. Who is this Ben character? I asked.

"My captain! His family has been looking for this artifact for generations! But there are another eight families also looking. We thought you were from one of those other families!" Jennifer claimed.

"So how do I get a hold of your captain?" I finally asked

* * *

I called up a ship. "I need to speak to Ben Hammerfield." I stated.

"Who is calling?" The communication officer asked.

"The person holding your helmsman", I replied.

There was a pregnant pause then this guy's face appeared on the screen. "Who are you and what do you want?" He asked.

"Possibly the same thing as you," I replied. "I have your helmsman here and I know what you are after. Do you know what it is? " I asked.

"Perhaps this open channel isn't the venue to discuss this. Can we meet?"

"The Crazy Cat Lounge in one hour," I stated.

"See you there." Ben signed off with.

* * *

I was in the Crazy Cat Lounge, the favorite stopover for non-Caitians in the major spaceport. A Caitian family ran it, and you could tell that they had a sense of humor. Ben and one of his officers entered the lounge. They came over to our booth. I planted my tricorder on the able and activated one of its features.

"What's that going to do?" Ben asked.

"It blocks all eavesdropping attempts." I replied

"Now way!" Ben exclaimed.

"It's a Section 31 tricorder. It has a few optional extras," I explained.

"You're Section 31? I thought that died with the Federation!"

"It might have, but I'm older than I look," I stated.

"OK, I'll bite. How old are you?" He asked.

"Just over 2000 years." I stated as matter of fact-ly.

"But…"

"Let's just say that it's a long story and leave it at that. It seems that we both are looking for the same artifact, even if it is for different reasons." I explained.

"What do you mean, different reasons? What are you looking for?" He asked

"Redemption. Another long story. Let's just say I want all the information contained in that artifact."

"But nobody can decipher the language of the scripts! It doesn't conform to any other script found so far…"

"I can decode it." I stated.

"HOW?"

"The language is Old Ravi. I can at least translate it, given time…"

"You know this language?" Ben sounded incredulous.

"In part. It comes from another universe, Ravnica. Lets just say that I spent some time there." I concluded.

"So you don't actually need the artifact itself…"

"Nope. Just the information it contains. If we work together, you can have the artifact as long as I get the translations of the script's it contains. You never know, I might be able to give you a user's manual for it…"

"Then welcome aboard the _Narcissus_. Shall we join forces and finally hunt down this artifact?"

"Works for me," I finally concluded.

* * *

The _Narcissus _was a gen-4 privateer, built by the Orion Syndicate. I became its navigator. The crew was family based. It looked like there were less than a dozen families after this artifact. But it was an important artifact to the families that were looking for it; one they were willing to kill for. His grateful helmsman returned to her station. But I had absolutely no knowledge of where the artifact was. I said as much to Ben.

"From our research here, we need to head core-ward. Apparently there is a Vulcan outpost, which might have that data… " Ben trailed off

"You're not talking about P'Jem, are you?" I had to ask.

"The one and only," Ben replied

"Course laid in," this was an easy one.

"Jennifer, hit it," Ben commanded.

Jennifer touched the controls and the _Narcissus_ leapt to warp.

* * *

Another couple of lonely months passed by on the trip to P'Jem, at the stately pace of warp 6. When we got there we were in for a surprise. In the form of a pair of disruptor bolts that slammed into the _Narcissus._ A K'Tinga class cruiser was in orbit, and opened fire on the _Narcissus. _

"I think we're outgunned," Ben stated.

"Let me fix that," I replied before pressing a button on my wrist computer. I then disappeared in a transporter field. Shortly after, there was a runabout planting a pair of torpedoes into the Klingon warship. It wasn't expecting an attack from two sides and quickly left the system. I returned the _Edison_ to the _Narcissus _shuttle bay, and returned to the bridge.

"Remind me not to piss you off," Ben stated.

"I get that a lot…"

"No surprise there…" Ben trailed off. We beamed down to the planet. The monastery was still intact, but they didn't want to let us in. A couple of stunned Vulcans later and we were granted access. I wasn't joking around and was willing to hose out the phaser blasts when necessary. According to the records here the artifact wasn't in the mana-less universe, but it was in a pocket universe containing mana. That made me the instant expert in mana-verses. "You know where we are going?"

"Actually, no. But I do know how to get there…" I trailed off. That universe had cropped up during our check on Ravnica. It meant a trip to the rim.

* * *

it was another long and lonely trip back to the Iconian world. I did not look forward to returning there this time. _Too many memories_. When we arrived I told Ben about the building and how to get in. Ben, Jennifer, and myself were headed down to the planet.

"How precise does your landing have to be?" Jennifer asked.

"Very. We need to hit a cone about 4 degrees wide. Therefore we have to land in the exact spot."

"And that is?" Ben interjected.

"That is right where … that other runabout is sitting …" I trailed off. I landed besides the other runabout. I could read its name through the cockpit window. It was the _Newton._ "Oh, that's not good," I muttered.

"You know who owns that ship?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. I do. It's my other runabout." I walked over to a weapons locker and got out a phaser rifle with grenade launcher. "The question is who is onboard?" I started loading grenades into the launcher. "Lets just say that the angels with phaser kata would toast us all, if they decide to," I finished.

"Did you just say 'angels'?" Jennifer was amazed as I handed her the phaser rifle and got another one out.

"Yes, angels. Winged humanoids that are much faster, stronger and tougher than us humans," I answered.

"And why would they be hostile to us if they are flying in your ship?"

"That's that long story with the 'Redemption' bit in it," I concluded.

I cracked the airlock. My tricorder said that there was no one in the vicinity. The _Newton's_ airlock was closed. I opened it, and much to my relief was empty. Cycle the airlock; shove the tricorder into the corridor … and nobody's home.

"That doesn't leave many other places to be," I muttered as we headed to the transporter. "That's odd, no return trip is programmed in …"

I fired up the scanner and took a look inside the building. It held no occupants. Now I was puzzled. "OK, I'll bite. Where's the pilot?"

"Maybe left the ship and is outside somewhere," Jennifer mentioned. "And will be returning soon."

"Not good. I can program a two-way trip but I would prefer someone to be here just in case."

"I'll stay. Both you and Jenny need to be in there. I don't," Ben stated.

"If that airlock opens you yank us back!"

We beamed over to the structure and I did a map reset. And we did our usual two-hour wait.

"There it is!" It wasn't Ravnica, Lorwyn or Alara. Not quite sure where it goes but here are the rift coordinates. We beamed back to the _Newton_, and conspicuously absent was Ben. I unlimbered my phaser rifle.

"Quit being so paranoid. He probably went to the lounge to grab a snack. I'll go get him. Jennifer walked to the back of the ship. Minutes passed by…

Great. Something's happened, and it's not good. I checked my grenade launcher and headed down the corridor to the back of the ship. Runabouts aren't that big. I noticed the airlock door was open. I had made sure to close it earlier. A quick glance in … and there were two phaser rifles stacked neatly against the wall. My tricorder still says nobody's home. A quick check of the lounge … empty. Back in the airlock I slung my rifle and checked out the other two. Both fully charged, not fired. Cycle the airlock doors … and find myself on the ground looking up into Sara's face. She gave me a smooch. "Paranoid fool, what were you expecting?"

"Considering recent events frankly I didn't know who or what to expect," I answered. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you. I knew you would head here sooner or later. If it was going to be later, I planned on firing up the building until you eventually noticed. You can be thick-headed at times."

"I don't understand …"

SMOOCH. "Then don't! Just accept it that I will always be at your side."

"Then do you mind letting me up?"

"Right. Not in front of the kids huh." Sara nodded at Ben and Jennifer, both bound to the _Edison's_ airlock stairs.

Sara helped me up and then untied Ben and Jennifer.

"When you said angel we actually didn't think you really meant ANGEL!" Ben exclaimed. He was still staring at Sara. Then he regained his composure. "The shuttle bay won't hold both runabouts."

"That's OK. We'll leave the _Newton_ here and come back for it later."

I returned the _Edison_ to the _Narcissus _shuttle bay, and watched her crew's reaction to our new arrival. Sara's introduction was always entertaining

* * *

For the first time in a long time I awoke in Sara's arms. It seems she missed me as much as I did her. "But what about Razia? She still loves you, you know. I think you should return. I don't detect this black aura, so something was amiss."

"I'm wiling to bet Endara has a new toy. Besides I don't plan on returning to Ravnica empty handed. That's why I am here. Check this out." I played back the recording of the artifact.

"Definitely a Boros angel…"

Both Sara and I entered the bridge, holding hands. "Noooo. You two aren't … so that's why you didn't need other quarters," Ben quipped. "So what was that about yesterday?"

"You've never had a lovers quarrel with someone who can swat you flat in a couple of seconds," I answered.

"True. You don't do anything in small measures, do you?" Jennifer asked.

"Nope. Remember how fast I took you out? She can do that to me!"

"How about you two continue to get reacquainted. I assume Sara can pilot a starship? See you tomorrow."

We headed back to 'my' quarters

* * *

We crossed through the rift. Within a minute Sara spoke up, "there's no mana here."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely," Sara answered. "This dimension has all the other characteristics of a mana-verse, but there's no mana here!"

"Then finding this artifact should be simple. Sara should be able to pick it up easily," Ben knew quite a bit about Sara by now.

We headed to the nearest system. Shortly we were in orbit around an H-class planet. The planet appears to be uninhabited, but there are structures on the surface.

* * *

What was once a city was now returning to the desert. Half buried buildings that may have one artifact…

"If it's here I'm not detecting it. This place is as mana-less as your universe," Sara stated.

Time to check out the buildings. A few hours later we had reached some sort of archive … and somebody has beaten us to it. Much of the records were burned and much was simply ash. The scorch marks of energy weapons marked he walls…

"What if they didn't notice the writing on the wall?" I asked.

"Well they sifted through a lot of data before destroying it."

"No, I mean literally. The writing on the wall," I restated.

Ben turned around to find me shining my light on the wall. What appeared to be a map was etched into the wall. "So how do we find out where that map leads to?"

"I know exactly where it leads to. Don't you recognize it?" I asked.

"Well, it looked kind of familiar…"

"I've seen that before. Somewhere," Jennifer trailed off.

"Of course you have, the Orion Syndicate. This leads to Rigel VII," I answered.

"Of course! That's why it's so familiar," Jennifer exclaimed.

"So, it's not here," Ben, concluded.

"Probably never was …"

We returned to the _Narcissus._ Now there was a race to Rigel, if the other ship saw the writing on the wall, literally.

* * *

We entered the Rigel system after crossing back to my own universe. Another month gone by, and it appeared that no other families had found their way here. But that didn't preclude the fact that someone had been here and left for parts unknown. But this was _THE pirate planet_. If any nefarious beings were hanging out this is where they would be.

We sent down a shuttle, as nondescript and as anonymous as it could be. No point in attracting attention to ourselves. The data collection went without a hitch, but the information was a problem. It was simply a string of letters in Hindu Arabic. MCMLXVIICCLVIIICLIV. That was it. What that meant was anybody's guess, then it hit me; roman numerals. The coordinates were right there in front of us. I had to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Ben had to ask.

"It's coordinates in roman numerals. 1967-258-154," I replied.

'You sure?" Ben was incredulous.

"As far as I can tell."

"Lay in a course," Ben ordered Jennifer.

"But that would put it out in ISC territory…" I commented.

"Well … nobody's heard from them since the Second General War. I don't think they are around anymore," Ben said.

* * *

This was going to be a long trip at warp 6. Three years about. Just getting there could be an adventure in itself.


	10. No Quarter

**10: NO QUARTER**

An uneventful month into the voyage and we were crossing core ward of Sidon space …

Then we were running on impulse, as the warp drive suffered a catastrophic failure. I was I the warp nacelle checking on the warp coils. This design had tandem coils in series and three nacelles. That meant 6 strings of warp coils, compared with the two of Federation starships. But Ben's ship was an Orion design with tandem warp coils in each engine. And checking the coils with the engines shut down, I found two shattered warp coils in the port nacelle.

Not good, I thought. We needed a work-around and soon! The Sidons would eventually find us and hunt us down when they figured out that we were humans. They still had a vendetta against us. Rearranging the warp coils in a tandem engine was more difficult than the single lines of a Fed warp engine. There were a couple of shattered coils in this engine which needed bypassing. The center engine had a completely shattered port coil set, while the starboard nacelle was completely intact. That last chase which had strained the engines had taken its toll. But at least we evaded the other family.

* * *

Two days later I had salvaged the center nacelle's coils and rebuilt the port nacelle. That gave me a balanced twin nacelle configuration with a cruising speed of warp 5 and a max of warp 7. There was still enough left of the center nacelle, that with a little tweaking, it could boost the speed a little. Now we needed to get underway without attracting attention to ourselves. Make no mistake that other ship was out there just waiting…

* * *

The first ship we encountered was a Sidon destroyer, not unlike the one I encountered 1200 years ago. However, the _Narcissus_ was nowhere as powerful as the _Faraway Quest_. But we still had a firepower advantage, so with minor damage took him out. We still didn't know where the Worthingons went. Their ship was more powerful than the _Narcissus_, but not faster! It was out there…

* * *

A week later and we were still skirting Sidon space, with no contacts on the scanners. We all were getting edgy…

We were gathered in the cafeteria discussing our predicament over dinner. "I consider no contact as good news..." Sara mentioned.

"You don't know the Worthingtons," Ben replied. "They will give no quarter on this quest. They are the most ruthless of the searchers out there. The only thing that has kept them in check is the other families, with more powerful ships. The only reason we stayed in the game was to be quicker and smarter than the other families. They tended to club each other over discoveries, as opposed to quietly doing research."

"That means that they have NOT gone away," Jennifer added. "As soon as they pick up our trail they will be after us, and they will not relent! Being way out here they definitely know that we have a new discovery.

"Then we need to get the drop on them first. I bet they don't know about the _Edison_," I mentioned. "That little ship will come in handy, especially with its photon pack."

"Yeah, I know! Just how much firepower is in that little ship?"

"I thought it had almost the firepower of the _7__th__ Sister_ packed into a smaller hull," Sara mentioned. "And you know what we managed to do with it!"

"But you destroyed it in the process…" I replied. "And Nergat won't be with you this time, just me."

"Then you better wear your skin suit!" Sara was serious.

"How about we don't lose the ship?"

"Works for me…"

* * *

I awoke to Sara's embrace. "You damn well wear that skin suit! I am NOT about to lose you…"

"You know, I _don't _have a death wish. You don't get to my age as a human by being reckless," I replied. "I plan on both of us living through this. You came back for me and I'm NOT going to leave you all alone in my mana-less universe."

We took another hour before we got ready for the day…

* * *

A skin suit was different from a normal space suit. A normal space suit was completely filled with your breathable atmosphere, and was engineered to allow flexibility and movement while under pressure. A hard suit was almost a wearable person-sized ship compared to a space suit. The skin suit went in the other direction. What if we don't have an atmosphere surrounding the wearer. The only pressurized part of a skin suit was the helmet, so the person could breath, and it contained the entire life support package. What the rest of the suit did was to create a counter pressure effect by actually squeezing the occupant. By squeezing all through the body at a pressure of 300 mllibars, the body didn't suffer any effects of being in a vacuum! And the elastic suit allowed for full mobility. Some advanced models, such as the Venus suit, allowed protection against extreme temperatures and corrosives, had self-sealing systems and a built in computer system, as well as monocrys armor!

We entered the bridge a little late for our designated shift. Ben gave me a knowing smile. He was definitely not about to piss off Sara. He had seen her sparring in the ships small gym, against holographic opponents. Her speed and reflexes actually convinced him that she could take out the entire crew if she so chose.

We checked our boards. There was a sporadic sensor blip to starboard.

"Do we want to check it out?" Sara asked.

"Why? I bet it can only bring trouble," Ben stated.

* * *

It was a few hours later when Sara noticed a flare on the sensors. "It looks like someone has detonated a gravitic mine."

"Really? And who out here has gravitic mines?"

I piped up. "The Dorcons certainly do, and since they have teamed up with the Sidons in the past, the Sidons could have them too."

"You have to be fucking kidding," Ben replied.

"John Carpenter's 'The Thing'. Where…" Sara started with.

"Who's that?" Jennifer asked.

"Never mind," Sara concluded.

"All right, we may as well get a closer look … but not too close, hear?"

"Can do," Jennifer replied.

* * *

Near the end of the day shift we had some intriguing data from the sensors. Apparently a large and powerful ship had detonated a gravitic mine, and was damaged. It still appeared operational as it was running from a squadron of Sidon destroyers, and it was keeping up. The Sidons were doggedly pursuing anyways. Their marginal speed advantage meant that they would catch the other ship in about two days. We could reach that spot, if we chose to…

* * *

Two days later, we had a full sensor log, and a decision to make…

"It looks like the Worthingtons have run afoul of the Sidons and are about to be hunted down," Sara concluded.

"Good! Serves them right!" Ben exclaimed.

"But aren't they humans like us? And don't the Sidons want us all dead?" Jennifer asked.

"Would they help us if the situation was reversed?" Ben asked.

"Maybe the answer would be 'yes'. By now all humans know what the Sidons think of us! They might regardless of our competition…" Jennifer trailed off.

"Besides the Sidons deserve a good beating, to remind them who not to fuck with!" Sara shocked me with that remark, until she gave me a knowing wink. But then again Sara spent her only time in a total vacuum after engaging the Sidons with the loss of the _7__th__ sister_.

"OK, lets take a time out and lets go kill some Sidons!" Ben finally exclaimed.

I plotted the course in and Jennifer swung the ship around. It would be a few hours still before we caught up with them.

* * *

The Worthington ship, another Orion design, was semi-crippled and running from a squadron of Sidon destroyers. We were closing on its position. The Sidons were pursuing. We would meet at about the same time. There were four Sidon ships pursuing the Worthingtons. They didn't see us until it was too late.

* * *

At this time Ben surrendered the center seat to me. "You probably have dealt with these Sidons before…"

I took over the captains' chair and started with the orders. We dropped in behind the Sidons and started to methodically take them out. It was over in about an hour, as we deep sixed the Sidons.

Now we had the Worthington's ship to deal with. They were a hurting unit after battling with the Sidons. And we were relatively fresh, as we picked off the Sidon destroyers one by one.

We hailed the Worthingtons. Their bridge was a mess when it appeared on the view screen. The other captain started with "Who are you and where's Ben?"

"I'm still here and the captain," Ben stated as he walked into camera range. "I just had my Sidon killing expert take over for the battle, Paul." I gave up the center seat ad returned to the navigation console.

"Well, Thank you for that. The Sidons still have a hate on for us humans, after all this time! We were toast if you didn't intervene. The Sidons are one thing even we would stop our competition for…"

Jennifer looked at Ben. "Well, the Sidons have been taken out."

"And we are in no shape to chase after you. If anybody got the artifact before we did, I'm glad it's going to be you. Your campaign was the most … intelligently run."

"Thank you. How badly damaged?"-

"We can make it back into human territory and make repairs. You just find that artifact…" Paul signed off and started back towards the general direction of Earth.

"Well, that takes care of the Worthingtons. They're finally knocked out of the race," I commented.

"That's if the artifact is actually at those co-ordinates," Jennifer replied.


	11. Let Go The Line

**11: LET GO THE LINE**

Another month into the voyage and we were crossing Dorcon space …

"There it is again!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"I caught it too, this time," Sara stated from the sciences console. It wasn't much of a console. "Extreme edge of sensor range – an energy signature. It's dead astern. We are being followed."

"By which one this time?" Ben asked. "And how do we get a better look at them?"

"You can always do a Crazy Ivan," I quipped.

"What the hell is a Crazy Ivan?"

"During the Cold War of the 20th century, wet navy Russian submarines would do a reckless 360 in the water to see what was directly behind them in their blind spot. We would do a 180 at maximum warp and then another one. In the meantime we see if we can get a better look at that ship between the turns."

"Jennifer, could you do that?" Ben asked.

"Not a problem, actually."

"Then let's go for it. Plot it in at flank please."

"Flank? Warp 10?"

"We want a good look at them, and some getaway distance if needed. Go when you're ready…"

"Engaging Crazy Ivan in 10 …"

_This was going to be interesting_. I forgot that Orion engines had an extra short period dash speed capability. The _Narcissus_ pirouetted and a minute later we had went to warp 10 from 6, straight back down our track. The sensor blip rolled onto the scanners. "Got it!" Sara stated. Another 180, this time at a gut wrenching warp 10 as the inertial dampeners strained to keep up. Sara put the image up on the screen, and it brought frowns all around, a K'T'inga class battle cruiser, probably the one at P'Jem.

"We might have a problem," Sara announced. "The Klingon has sped up to warp 10. She's keeping up with us."

"We can't keep up warp 10 for more than a couple of hours," Ben stated. "Especially with our jury-rigged engines."

"Even with a small-nacelle design they can probably stay at warp 10 for days. Possibly a couple of weeks," Sara replied. A large nacelle design, depending on the engineer, could stay at max for weeks to a couple of months.

"Then she'll catch us in just over a day when we throttle back to warp 7," I calculated.

"Well, a day to prepare is better than nothing. I will need suggestions. Briefing room in two hours," Ben ordered.

* * *

We all met in the briefing room. I had already taken over the conversation. "The T'K'inga sports a pair of photon torpedoes, four pulse disruptors, and 9 beam disruptors…"

"We have 6 beam disruptors, and a pair of pulse disruptors in our options mounts…" Ben stated.

"That means in two days, we are going to get our ass kicked," I stated. It was true. The cruiser had that firepower advantage over us. "But then, we do have the a advantage that they have to take us alive to find out what we know."

"OK. But what is their firepower, again?" Ben had to ask.

"Nine beam disruptors, four heavy pulse disruptors, and fore and aft Photon torpedoes," Sara answered. "One torpedo and all pulse disruptors are forward. If they land a clean alpha strike on us we're dead in the water."

"Ouch. So how do we avoid it?"

"We don't," I answered. "They're not going to fall for the '_Edison_' trick a second time. That leaves the fact that they probably will try to cripple us, while we have no restrictions. The only thing I can think of is a minefield."

"Intriguing. But where do we get these mines?" Jennifer asked.

* * *

Showtime! The engineering crew spent the night making antimatter containment vessels and mounting them on the ships shuttles. Ben decided to cut the chase short and try to engage in a nearby system. We were unlucky to find no gas giant planets here, nor any significant asteroid fields. This fight was an impulse dance about the inner rocky planets of this system. We deployed our shuttle-mines and waited…

Our initial success was more than we expected. The other captain had no imagination and sailed right into our makeshift minefield. Unfortunately they were only moderately damaged. Then they chased us down, and eventually got that good alpha strike in. At least they were a hurting unit…

"All hands to repel boarders!" Ben commanded. Everyone on the bridge checked their charge on their personal weapons.

We expected the worst. But before we were boarded there came a surprise. Another Orion ship de-cloaked and fired on the Klingon. That Orion ship was a 'salvage cruiser'.

"Oh, great, it's the 'Armstrong' family. How did they get here?" Ben quipped

"In their starship," I sarcastically replied.

"Cute," Ben replied. "But how does that help us?"

"How about we land on that planet, and see if we can hide somewhere, like underwater," I answered.

More than one family was following us. This new ship put a spread into the K'T'inga class cruiser, disabling it. It was one of those cases of 'let's them and you fight...'

But as they finished off the K'T'inga cruiser yet another ship de-cloaked and fired on the Armstrong's ship. This ship was definitely more powerful, being a ship of generation nine. Both Sara and I recognized it immediately. It was the _Parhelion II_.

"Uhm … it looks like the cavalry has arrived," I mentioned.

"Who are they?" An incredulous Ben asked.

"They are the Boros angels," Sara replied.

"The who?"

"Remember that 'redemption' story I told you about …"

"You have got to be kidding," Ben concluded.

A transport later and there was another angel on the bridge of the _Narcissus._

Ben was about to fire upon this uninvited guest, but held back when she was wearing the same red tunic as Sara and I.

Razia grabbed me and gave me a huge smooch. That caused him some pause. Razia had beamed here to give me a forgive-ment smooch, and then was introduced to the Hammerfield family crew.

"But I thought that you and Sara …" Ben was completely confused.

"I have two angels! Unfortunately we had this … misunderstanding…"

"Don't assume that when angels make mistakes that we aren't capable to rectify the situation!" Razia responded. "Just because we are driven by our cause it doesn't mean we are not checking against the evils other factions can cause. I figured out that there was another player involved. But then Stephen had already left! It took this long to catch up! You are slippery when you want to hide." Razia told me. "I didn't expect you to just walk out without a fight! Sara went after you almost immediately…"

I was speechless. But Razia didn't mind.

The smooch was one of those that I had difficulty coming up for air. Razia realized this and relented just in time. But that meant that I was off the hook only momentarily. The second round commenced…

* * *

I woke up with both Sara and Razia wrapped around me. For the longest time I felt whole again, just lying here in my quarters with the two angels gripped closely. Both angels were awake and waiting for me. Nothing needed to be said…

* * *

I entered the _'Helion's_ bridge and for the first time in a long time, sat in the captain's chair. The Hammerfields were guests onboard, the _Narcissus_ parked on the H-class planet that we landed on. We would come back for it on our return trip. The _Newton_ was already back in Ravnica as Razia found it on the Iconian planet and sent it back with one of her angels. The _Edison_ was in our shuttle bay, crowding out the other shuttles.

"At least this trip won't take another 3 years," I quipped.

"How so?" Jennifer asked.

"Pense, what's our current velocity?" I asked

"Warp factor 9.6 … oh right. That's warp 15 for you geezers," Pense quipped.

"Thanks a lot!" But you couldn't help with the grins on the bridge crews' faces.

"I notice it it'll be less than three years to get there…" Ben mentioned.

"Much less," Pense answered. "It's still a long trip, but only 5 months and a week…"

* * *

But then I was 'complete' for the rest of this trip. We were passing through Dorcon space, and were going out of our way to hunt down their ships that crossed our path. Very quickly they figured out where we were headed and the sensors were clear until we left their territory. Then we were in unknown realms. Nobody knows how expansive the ISC territory is. So until we encounter their ships the space we now travel through never was part of a stellar empire…

* * *

Many uneventful weeks passed by until we encountered something. A ship finally appeared on our sensors.

"Slow to warp 10 and engage cloak," I ordered.

The healed Reia was on ops. "Warp 10 and cloaking…" she also gave me a hug when I returned to the '_Helion_. They had found the Lupul that was my imposter, and killed it. Apparently there are a few more Lupuls still on Ravnica, and apparently Endara had hooked up with Szadek! Both have such a hate on for my angels that they actually teamed up! Razia was not expecting this, so didn't plan against it. _Now that they know…._

The ISC proved to be only "annoying". Their gen-6 ships didn't stand a chance against the '_Helion._ We brushed them aside like anybody else that we encountered. Their 'plasmatic pulsar devices' were cute, but not effective against gen-9 shields. Of course trying to intercept a ship traveling at warp 15 is problematic for most…

* * *

We finally reached the coordinates, dropping into a stellar system with only a red dwarf star. It was not a likely candidate for harboring a planet with an artifact on it. Sara was on ops, while Maya was on sciences, scanning the system. Pense was on engineering, when she wasn't siding up to hug John, who was on tactical. As you can tell, I run a loose ship, but with the angels, it works!

"There is a planet in the star's habitable zone," Maya mentioned.

"Is it tide locked?" I asked.

"Surprisingly no. But it is uninhabitable, as it has a reducing atmosphere," Maya answered. "We'll know more by the time we reach it."

Ten minutes later and we had reached orbit. "There is an odd energy signature coming from the surface," Sara stated from ops. "There's a ship down there … I think."

"On screen," I ordered. A crashed ship was indeed sitting on the planet's surface. It was what appeared to be a bunch of hull sections jury-rigged together. "It's a Jacker ship," I mentioned.

"The who?" Ben asked.

"Jackers. They are gypsy like travelers. They travel the entire galaxy in their jury rigged ships not unlike that one," I answered. "Not liked by most, they go about salvaging and stealing anything not nailed down, then move on to sell it elsewhere. Much of their hardware is salvaged and kluged together from salvaged ship parts, a lot of it came from the Graveyard of Delta Pavonis."

"What generation would it be?" That seemed to Razia's favorite question when dealing with another star ship.

"Could be anywhere from 1st generation up to 3rd or 4th gen. It's usually never higher," I answered.

"There seems to be a high level of radiation surrounding the ship," Maya chimed in.

"Then I guess we are going down in hard-suits. And that includes both of you!"

SMACK. Neither Sara nor Razia liked wearing hard-suits. It pinned their wings into the parked position, and precluded the possibility of flight. Nobody knows just how much radiation an angel can take, and I wasn't willing to find out the hard way. Even if I assume it's more than a human can take, a massive dose will be debilitating, and about the most uncomfortable thing I can think of suffering through!

Every angel species had to have their own custom designed hard-suit. It was the number and placement of wings that made the difference! The Emeria angels had to contend with a six-pack of wing covers, while Sara only had two. Still, immobilizing those wings made the angels uncomfortable, but it beats dying of radiation poisoning.

"Ok folks," Allan stated from the transporter console. "I should be beaming you directly to the command deck."

Sure enough we found ourselves on the bridge of the Jacker's ship. The remains we found indicated the crew died at their posts. What happened here happened some time ago! Like the rest of the ship the bridge was salvaged and kluged together. The layout, though not ideal, was efficient, and seemed to do its job. Radiation levels here were elevated, but not lethal at this time. We decided to head aft. The first thing we found was rapidly increasing radiation levels. Then we reached a room. It was set up as an impromptu infirmary. From the medications and remains found I parsed out what it was.

"Welcome to the 600 club," I stated solemnly.

"The 600 club? What's that?" Sara had to ask.

"That is the group of people exposed to 600 rads or more radiation," I explained. "They have received a lethal dose of radiation, and the only thing to do is give them comfort until the end. 600 rads or more is the lethal dose for a typical human."

"So everyone here was doomed from the start?" Razia asked.

"Yes. They either were victims of irradiation, or sacrificed themselves to try to help the rest of the crew…"

"How would they sacrifice themselves?" Razia asked.

"By irradiating themselves trying to prevent an accident with a fission reactor," I replied. I expected to find such a beast on this ship.

"Well this room is still emitting about 10 rads per hour, which is a rather dangerous level," Maya stated. "These remains are still quite contaminated."

"Wait 'till we get to engineering," I replied.

Sure enough, the first engineering compartment was even more contaminated. "20 rads per hour and rising," Maya stated.

"Is that what I think it is," Razia asked.

"A fusion reactor?" I replied.

"Exactly that," Razia returned.

"Yes it is," I answered. "This is a gen-2 warp core exclusively powered by a fusion reactor. Doable, but very short ranged. Just like the Romulan ships during the Romulan war."

"But the Jackers…"

"Don't need range if they hop from system to system. Hydrogen is dirt cheap to get, and gets the job done. A ship at this speed isn't going anywhere fast anyways. They probably took years to work their way out here. For a family oriented generation ship that's not a problem. The duration of the trip was irrelevant for them," I answered. "The travelers were … patient. They were NOT in a hurry to get anywhere. In some respect I do admire them as free spirits! They could and did go anywhere in their view."

"But we can go anywhere," Raia mentioned.

'That's because I own the ship and you are the Boros Admiral. We set our own orders. You and I decide where the _'Helion _goes. One of the advantages of being our own commanders…"

"I'd give you a smooch, if I weren't in this infernal suit…"

"Sorry, but I like living and having my angels," I replied. "Radioactive corpses don't do me any good!"

SMACK. But Razia wasn't really serious. She appreciated my precautions, and as we passed through engineering the radiation levels continued to climb.

We reached the secondary drive system, the radiation was rising rapidly, as we opened the doors to the auxiliary drive we found a completely melted down fission reactor. The fuel was spread out along the floor…

"Radiation levels still at 150 rads per hour, expect 500 + if you go in there," Maya stated.

Sure enough the rad levels climbed exponentially. We simply backed out of the auxiliary drive compartment and headed to the cargo areas. "Well, they couldn't prevent the meltdown and couldn't vent the ship to the reducing atmosphere outside.

We entered the bowels of the ship, where the cargo areas were. On our way we found a grim reminder that this ship contained _families_. We found that the crew in the cargo hold were in pressure suits, and decided to suffocate when their air ran out rather than face radiation exposure. But they did find and load the artifact that we were looking for.

We had finally found the artifact! Getting it onboard the _'Helion II_ took only a few minutes. Then we were headed back into Dorcon space to the _Narcissus_.

Razia was looking over the artifact, and surprised all of us when she burst our laughing. "You spent all that time looking for this?"

"And you know what this is?" Ben sounded angry.

"So do Pense and Caladea. They helped build it," Razia replied. "It's a white mana generator. When the first Parhelion was being built and my journey into the mana-less universe was fresh in everyone's mind, those two decided to make this 'just in case'. Unused for a couple of centuries it was auctioned off for some cause. Only recently, with Stephen's tech did we build another…"

"Then it's worthless…" Ben trailed off.

"Not exactly," Razia said with a smirk. "I know of at least one person on Ravnica who would buy it, and pay a good price in zino's."

"What are 'zinos'?"

"A zino is about 2 slips of latinum."

"OK, so how do I get to Ravnica?"

* * *

A few uneventful months later and we were returning to the planet that we parked the _Narcissus_ on. Unfortunately there were a few ships waiting for us. There were five ships here, all banded together, waiting for us to arrive. At least all of the families were now accounted for!

"Open a channel," Razia ordered K'Tee.

"Good to go," K'Tee replied.

"This is Razia, the Boros Archangel. My angels are the creators of the artifact that you all seek, and I have decided to give it to the Hammerfield clan. Leave this system or deal with the wrath of the Boros," Razia concluded with.

Two ships broke off and headed out of the system, while three remained.

"OK, we have three ship to kill. John…"

John was on ops with Sara. Sara was already arming the weapons, and had brought up the dual shields. From the looks of the three ships this was going to be a short fight.

And it was. The first spread of torpedoes crippled one ship while the pulse phasers and the cannon sliced another in half. The third wasn't waiting around for our weapons to recharge, beating a hasty retreat to the warp wall. Then it was up to us to retrieve the Narcissus. That chore done and we were towing it to Ravnica, where they could get repairs done and sell the mana generator to Teysa.

* * *

Back in Ravnica and all is well. I was back 'in good' with my angels, and they had a new perspective, as Endara had actually teamed up with Szadek. I was 'forgiven' with apologies as far as Razia was concerned. She made it obvious that I didn't do anything wrong and must be forgiven and routed back into the Boros fold. They had found the culprit and got rid of it. Extra vigilance was put in place to prevent such mishaps in the future. Razia was not about to exile me again, and 'that was that'. She _really missed_ me, and decided that any diversion would NOT be put up with. I appreciated that vote of confidence!

I woke to my two angels while atop Sunhome. They actually produced a press release, that the Fleet Captain was 'out on a secret mission' and the exile was simply a 'cover story'.

Apparently I was not an outcast at all! But the story had to be 'tweaked' to conform to reality.


	12. Mental Anguish

**12: MENTAL ANGUISH**

It was business as usual for the longest time that I could remember. There were no ships shooting at us, no bombs in the streets. The Wojeks had their usual plate of regular crime to deal with, as the Rakdos were getting a little uppity. Now there's an infestation that could use a good extermination. The Gruul were simply annoying. Razia had spent the last week basically apologizing for the 'second biggest mistake of her life' and I was worn out. Happy, but worn out…

We also gained a new bunch of experienced crew. The Hammerfields had decided to auction the mana generator to the highest bidder. The winner was Teysa, but I still was astonished by how much she paid for it. With that money Ben decided to upgrade his ship, and if we were willing, join the Boros fleet, as they now had nothing better to do. So as far as I was concerned they could join up with us. When Razia agreed, we added a new ship to our fleet. Little did the Hammerfields know that we had anticipated their joining and when some angels found mates within their crew, they had truly integrated with the Boros angels!

It was cold, wet, and dreary where I was right now. But then again I was slogging through one of the few remaining natural swamps on Ravnica. Located south of the northern glaciers where the Izzet obtained most of Ravnica City's fresh water. _What__the__hell__was__I__thinking?__Oh__yeah,__this__was__Edana__'__s__idea_. One of her garrisons had reported strange events that they thought could only be a product of mana-less technology. The only things I considered worse was my two angels that were both cold and wet. Both Razia and Sara were drenched and afflicted by the black mana that the swamp produced. There was nothing that I could do about it except give hugs out freely. Their drenched wings and postures meant that anything I could say would probably get me slapped. This was, for us all, a miserable slog through the black mana swamps that were left of what was left of natural landscapes on this planet. But it was Razia's legion that was slogging through the swamp with us. The angelic presence was awe-inspiring to the local troops. We headed up the setting of camp, and settled in for the night. At least the sentries were equipped with phaser rifles, just in case.

The angels weren't used to camping out. This was an entirely new experience to them. The closest that they came to this was our time aboard the _Enola__Gay._ But that was in a cabin with a bed!

"So why are we way out here again?" Razia asked as we ate breakfast with the troops.

"Edana thought that we should go in clandestine – like so we could see what is going on without alerting the natives," I replied. "The _'__Helion_is on standby, just I case we do find something."

"And she just had to pick you," Sara quipped.

"Of course, who knows mana-less technology the best?"

"Pense and John!" Both angels replied.

That brought out a snicker. "You're just saying that so you can get out of the cold and the rain. At least we are out of that swamp and in hill country. Besides it's a good experience for you."

"And how is that?" Sara asked. "Did you know that there are no swamps in Bant?"

"Exactly. You both need to experience what you put your legion through, and every so often a slog through a swamp tells you just how good you have it. Besides, that's what the heat setting on your phaser is for," I commented as I heated up some nearby rocks.

"I never thought of that!"

"Like I said, a slog through the swamp will do some good. Makes you think on your feet."

"Damn that 'thinking like a mortal'," Sara replied.

"Hey, it still looks like you two need some practice!"

""Well, of course," Razia responded. "It takes a bit to break twelve thousand years of thinking! Give me some time!"

I just hugged the pair of angels. "You're doing great. Remember, I was born thinking this way…"

SMACK. Razia wasn't being serious, so it was a light tap. "Your head is swelled enough!"

"Yeah, but am I right?"

SMACK, SMACK.

"OK, ok I give…"

We had struck camp and were moving into hills and meadows. It was still cold, but at least the rain had stopped. The gray overcast still left a chill that went to the bone. Two hours into our hike, and the point man disappears in a puff of photons. Everybody hits the dirt. I was crawling to the crest of the ridge where the legionnaire was shot. Just below the crest, I unhook the sight display and place it on the ground in front of me. Then I heft the rifle over the ridge to use it as a periscope. It worked. I found a heavy disruptor emplacement about 600 meters from the ridge. It was a matter of aim, and of course, a plasma grenade to wipe out the nest. But we were on alert from now on. Somebody was definitely 'out there' and we were approaching steadily. That meant that we needed to be careful, as they had posted sentries. Who they were and what they were doing was still unknown.

We finally reached a valley where there was an Orion salvage cruiser being modified. Who and what they were doing was beyond us, but they were doing something to the ship. We needed to get closer, but considering how far out they posted their sentries…

Then another legionnaire disappeared in a puff of photons as a beam of light shot into the sky. "Signal mine! Everyone FREEZE," I ordered. We all did. "We're in a minefield!" The Orion ship's crew did not want anyone approaching the ship.

"_Parhelion_! Emergency transport!" Razia ordered. Flashes and metallic screams appeared throughout this part of the valley as our ships transporters whisked us away before something worse could happen. I materialized aboard the _'__Helion_, to find Anezka behind the console, besides Astinus, one of our transporter operators. Something was peculiar about her…

"Anezka! Your wings are turning brown! Who's the lucky guy?" I asked.

Astinus gave Anezka an embrace. _Figures,__that__'__s__why__she__'__s__in__here__…_ "While you were away we decided to join the party. Can't let you have all the fun…"

"Well, it's about time," Razia stated as she stepped off of the transporter pad. "Astinus, Anezka is my trusted right hand, so you better treat her right!" Razia winked at him. Astinus knew that he had no choice, as Anezka could slap him silly just as fast as Razia or Sara could do to me.

On the bridge the view screen had an Orion salvage cruiser leaving orbit and heading to the rift. We never did find out what they were doing there…

All was quiet on the Ravnican front. The usual commercial traffic in and out, both to the orbital yards and Teysa's spaceport. Relar was still hanging out with the Dimir, but he was keeping surprisingly clear of us. That left me worried about what the Dimir and Golgari were up to…

But another quiet month goes by without a peep from Endara, Szadek, or Relar for that matter. In fact the biggest annoyance this month were the Simic with some of their experiments being let loose on the city.

Alarms were ringing through the ship. As I entered the bridge, on screen, was a new ship, firing on the planet. I did not recognize it though. "There is no match in the database," Sara stated from sciences. "That ship is truly unknown."

"But we still need to stop it," I stated. _Regardless__of__who__they__are_, I thought.

The _'__Helion_ leapt off of the roof of Sunhome, and charged after the unknown ship. It was just another ship that needed killing.

We soon realized that this was an advanced generation ship. The first clue was when we approached; they broke off and headed towards the hyper wall at maximum impulse. As soon as they crossed it they went to warp factor 9.4.

We crossed the warp wall and I immediately ordered Wf 9.6. As soon as we leapt to that speed, the unknown piled on the lumes and matched our velocity. As soon as I ordered Wf 9.9, and our ship leapt forward, they still matched us. And they were frustratingly out of weapons range. There was nothing we could do but chase.

But there was still a nagging feeling that something was amiss. When they spotted us they left in exactly the straight-line course away from us. They made no attempt to reach the rift. That meant that either they originated in this universe, of something else was afoot.

Three days later and we were still stalemated. The unknown ship was still running at warp factor 9.9, and we were still just as far away as when we started this chase.

"I think we may have the engine advantage," Pense stated. Pense and John were at ops while my angels flanked my chair. "They are slowing down and coming about"

"Heat them up and raise shields," I ordered. Then I had this dream of flying through space without a ship or a spacesuit!

I woke up in a dimly lit room. The illumination seemed to emanate from the entire ceiling. The walls were gray, and a single set of pocket doors adorned the far wall. As I looked around there were a dozen medical beds, all filled with my crewmembers. The bed to my right held Toki, and a goblin was fussing over him. _Oh__great_, I thought. _We__'__re__aboard__the__ '__Omen.__How__did__we__get__here?_

Then the door opens and in walks Jace, Sara, and Razia. Razia comes over to my bed and gives me an extremely gentle hug. I try to take a deep breath, to realize that I can't! My lungs are on fire!

"You have lost about 80% of your lungs to the vacuum. You will have to get a new set cloned up," Razia responded. "Most of the un-bonded crew didn't make it…" Razia trailed off.

"Most?" I inquired.

"Well, Led was in a shuttle pod, prepping it. In fact, it was his beacon that led the '_Omen_to find us. Mogara was working in the bowels of the ship and tossed both goblins into the escape pod. Those three got out that way. Darien survived by a emergency life link with Elariel. Glaph got out by emergency life link as well."

But that still left what happened to the '_Helion_.

"That unknown ship destroyed it. It took a single shot at it, and cut it in half," Razia stated. "Three people were in the beam's way."

I was in a funk. For the first time I had to reside over a funeral for the fallen Boros. Unfortunately the beam did find a few victims. We lost Rainisa, Thuu, and Sirael! But in total there were ten corpses in the shuttle bay of the '_Omen_. It was my job to reside over their burial. The shuttle bay opened, I said my piece. And then the bodies were whisked towards Ravnica's star.

I went to the observation lounge. I wanted to be wallowing in my sorrows for a while. Somebody got one of my angels! That would not do, but what could I do about it. Unfortunately Sirael was beyond my ability to bring her back! So I didn't want some pathetic platitude; I would just … weep.

After a while the doors opened. I scarcely noticed it. Then I found myself in an embrace by Arediel, and Elariel.

"Sirael was lucky! She got the chance to ride among the stars with the Boros angels! We all were lucky that you rescued us from slavery!" Both angels stated.

"But I'm the captain! It's my responsibility to bring everyone back to Sunhome!…"

Razia had entered the observation lounge. Both she and Sara had ambushed me. "There will be no more of that!" My two angels stated in unison. They dragged me back to our quarters, aboard the _Fantom_.

I awoke to my two angels and their hugs. They were waiting for me to wake up. I'm still 'breathing' through our life links, and will be for another month. My angels were being extra careful…

But it still didn't help. I was back in Pivlic's tavern, this time trying to crawl into a barrel of bumbat. I was being pretty successful at it too. I was sure that my ability to stand and walk was pretty impaired. And also, my vision was beginning to tunnel out. I didn't notice the brown coming in from the edges until Razia's wings almost engulfed me. But I did notice when she wrapped her arms around me.

"We will have no more of _that_. Sara waits in our quarters. You need to get over this, and that's that," Razia commanded.

Razia had used _that__voice_. And sometimes resistance _is_ futile! I was pretty sure that I was being carried to my quarters. They were on board the _Fantom_, where I set our flag, temporarily. We had a new mission. It was to hunt down the remaining pieces of the '_Helion__2_ and to try to figure out what happened to it.

So I sobered up, but was running on automatic. We headed out into Ravnica's universe and started our search. It didn't take long to find the two halves of our ship. The starboard portion held the antimatter pods and 8 of 10 had detonated. The port half was more serviceable, but we still didn't know what happened to it.

When we completed our analysis, we were stymied. The only thing that could cut our ship in half was an impossible beam!

""It's a grazer, " I said to no one in particular.

"A grazer?" Razia startled me as she had entered the lab without my knowing.

"Yes. A coherent graviton beam," I replied. And no the spelling is correct, as a graser is a gamma ray laser. "But it's impossible!" Gravitons have a quadripole effect, making a coherent beam impossible!

"Well, obviously it isn't impossible as I'm looking at the two halves of the _Parhelion__2_, sliced in half by that beam," Razia stated.

"Yes, there's that," I mentioned.

I was back in Pivlic's tavern, still tryng to crawl into a barrel of bumbat. I was still in my funk when I noticed someone had sat besides me at the bar. It was Relar.

"Listen, I know that we will probably not be friends, but can we at least come to a truce?"

"Sure, why not?" I sarcastically replied.

"No really," Relar responded. "I have come to the conclusion that your entire motivation was to protect your angels. Now I don't fathom that reasoning, but I can at least come to respect it. You seem to have become this universe's angel protector…"

"Believe it or not it's actually a childhood thing," I replied.

"Strangely enough that makes some kind of sense. But I may be able to help you on your current predicament." Relar put a data chip down on the bar. "This may not solve all your troubles but it will help…"

"Well … Thank you," I replied. I shook his held out hand.

"I guess the correct response would be, your welcome." With that Relar left the bar.

I woke up with both my angels wrapped around me. I didn't know how I got here. They were awaiting my return to consciousness, and I appreciated their patience and 'faith' in me. But now I had work to do. We had to build another flagship for the Boros, and to test weather Relar's tech was a lie or not.

My angels didn't know what I was up to. But until the prototype was built that was fine with me. I wanted to keep this as secret as possible. I simply didn't know if Relar was playing with us.

One month later and the converted shuttle was ready. Time to test it!

Razia entered the bridge just as the shuttle activated its multi-phasic shields. Now it looked like a steel armadillo. "So that's what you were up to this past month."

"Yes, and considering the source, I didn't want to get anybody's hopes up," I replied.

"And the source is?"

"Our old friend Relar," I answered, to Razia's shock.

"You have got to be … fucking kidding." Razia pulled the quote from the movie. "But then, that's why you worked in secret, isn't it?"

"Yes. I didn't know if we were being played. This test will determine that. John, you may commence firing," I ordered.

John started off with a standard phaser on low power, but enough to take out a shuttle. The shields shrugged off the blast like it was a pesky insect. "Going to full power," John mentioned. One blast later and the shuttle still looked untouched.

"Go with phaser cannon." No affect either. That shield just stopped a type 3 cannon blast cold!

"Now I'm officially impressed!" Razia stated. "And that's just a large shuttlecraft…"

"Time to pull out the stops." I ordered, "Put a spread of torpedoes into her!"

John fired ten torpedoes at the shuttle. There was nothing there when the explosion cleared. "Looks like that did it," John mentioned.

"Not so fast," Sara stated from the sciences console. "Found it. You just blasted it into the depths if this star system. Here it is." Sara put the view up on the main screen.

"Let's chase it down," I ordered. "I have one last thing to throw at it." As we closed I hit the intercom. "Torpedo room, load the new torpedo."

"What new torpedo?" All the bridge crew asked in unison.

"Well, with those multi-phasic shields also came new multi-phasic torpedoes. And the Romulans can't use either technology since it isn't compatible with a quantum singularity power source. I don't think Relar knew just what he handed me."

"We're entering range, now," John informed.

"Then fire," I ordered. We spat out a single torpedo, which raced down the target. This time there was nothing left after the explosion. "By the way, the _Helion__3_ is being built with this new technology."

"The _Helion__3_?" Sara asked.

"Yes, I shortened the name, since _he__'__d_ shorten it anyway. Damn humans…" Razia winked at me, so I knew she wasn't being serious. But she _did_ shorten the name for me. The new ship was still based on the Courageous class, and retained the decks of the '_Helion__2_. But with the increased firepower, and outsized warp core and nacelles, she was almost 50% longer and 30% wider than her predecessor. The _Helion__3_ would carry two phaser cannon as well as a pair of aft firing torpedo launchers. Her crew would be 180.

It was another quiet two months before the _Helion__3_ was ready for her shakedown cruise. The first week was spent in orbit, ironing out all the bugs from everything but the propulsion units. Then it was time to light up the drives. The following three days were testing out the impulse engines. Then the time came for the warp drive tests. Of all the systems the warp drive worked flawlessly. By the end of the day we had worked up to warp factor 9.9, and held that speed overnight.

I awoke to both of my angels, and the sound of the warp drive humming along nicely. When we reached the bridge John, Pense and Nergat were already there. We were still traveling at warp 18. As soon as I sat down in my chair, Pense asked, "What generation is this warp drive? The nacelles should be showing a lot more strain."

"Stock generation 9. That's the best surviving tech in the galaxy. I just took a page out of the Orion playbook. Both the warp core and the nacelles are out-sized." I ordered, "Go to warp 22."

"Warp factor 9.94 aye sir." Was there a bit of nervousness in Nergat's voice? The ship increased speed.

"That's full output on the warp core," Pense stated. "Nacelles showing sings of strain, typical of a max speed run."

"Then divert impulse reactors 1 & 2 to the warp drive, and go to 9.96." That got everyone on the bridge to look at me. "I need to see what she can do!"

Nergat turned back to his console. "Here goes! … Engines at over-max speed – warp factor 9.96."

Pense chimed in, "Engines showing strain, but not that bad for being 6 warp factors above design specs."

"Well, that's flat out boys and girls. Warp 26. Over 41 thousand lumes! And we still have power from impulse reactors 3 & 4."

"Just how many impulse reactors does this thing have?" Razia questioned.

"Four, and they are fully interlocked," Pense replied. "And this time around our antimatter pods are ground rated!"

"All right, you can back off to 9.9, and head for our weapons testing system," I ordered.

I woke up again to both my angels. They were still wrapped around me … and both were sleeping! Razia was surprised to wake up to find me watching her and Sara sleep. It could just have been the bemused look on my face. "Tired are we?" I had to ask.

"Yes strangely enough," Razia answered. "It's as if we were in your mana-less universe."

"Hmpf. Let me think about that one for a bit."

We got ready and went to the bridge. John was there, but Pense wasn't at his side. She should have been.

"Where is Pense anyway? Something wrong with the engines?" I asked.

"No, she's still in our quarters, still sleeping. I will urge her to see Dr. Toki when she gets here."

"Hold that thought. What's our ETA to our range system?" I asked.

"40 minutes," Nergat answered. Those 40 minutes seemed to drag on.

As soon as we crossed the warp wall I hit the intercom. "Allan, I need you to beam up some mana crystals and scan them. Sara will guide you in." Sara took the cue and went over to the sciences console. A couple of minutes later and she relayed coordinates to Allan.

"Allan to bridge," came over the intercom. "Sara missed. This crystal is not emitting any mana."

Sara shook her head. "You have the right stone. There are four more like it at the following coordinates."

The sound of a transport in the background … "These crystals are also dead."

"All right, hang on to them. Geo-lab," I ordered.

"Geo-lab here," came the reply.

"I need you to rescan all of our mana-crystals."

A moment later came the reply. "All of our crystals do not appear to be emitting mana anymore."

"All right retrieve the rocks from transporter room 2 and hang on to them. Security!" I ordered.

"Security, Tony here."

"Intruder alert! We have someone or some thing on board with a mana suppressor," I explained.

"Getting my team ready. Will report back when we have results," Tony replied.

Half an hour later and the intercom beeps. It's Tony. "Captain, I think you should come down to cargo bay 4."

"On my way," I said as I got out of my chair. "John has the con."

Both my angels accompanied me to the cargo bay. Bay 4 contains among other things all of our spare torpedo casings. I like having spares, just in case. Neatly stacked in rows, ten high. So why was there a stack of four right at the end?

"Take a look at this thing," Tony suggested.

On first glance it looked exactly like a short stack of torpedoes. Only when you walked up to it could you hear it crackling and humming. I pulled my communicator badge and casually tossed it on top of the device. It landed nicely and nothing untoward happened.

"Transporter room," I called into the intercom.

"Allan here."

"I want you to lock on to the device my communicator badge is on and beam it into deep space," I ordered. There was a flash and a metallic scream and the device was elsewhere. "Bridge! I want you to destroy the device we just beamed out."

A moment later there was the hum of a phaser. "Device destroyed," John replied.

Then over the intercom: "Geo-lab to Fleet Captain Michael. Those crystals are back emitting mana energy."

"Good. Problem solved," I replied. To Tony I said, "I think you can stand down your detail."

"Actually I want to finish the sweep of the entire ship. There might be more things lying around that aren't on the manifest or plans!"

"All right then. That's why you are my security chief!" The angels and I headed back to the bridge

Sara stated, "I bet we would have noticed it earlier if Stephen hadn't got his lung transplant done."

Razia replied, as if I wasn't there, "Yes, but our life link does work in the mana-less universe."

"But we would have noticed his lungs weren't healing."

"That's true."

"Did I become invisible all of a sudden?" I had to ask.

"Feeling left out?" Razia asked.

"YES."

Smooch! "Feel better now?"

"Sort of," I replied as I turned to Sara. I ended up in a double angel hug.

"Now I feel better!"

We stopped by our quarters to pick up another comm. badge, and to fabricate its spare. Then back to the bridge we went.

John gave up the center seat and returned to the helm.

"Tony is sweeping the whole ship for things that shouldn't be here. Somebody had access to this ship either during construction or replenishing," I commented.

"That's definitely not good. I'd also get the engineering team to go over the hardware and software for signs of tampering," John replied.

"Good idea. Have 'em start in the weapons systems. Our gunnery exercise is on hold until they report back," I stated.

It was well into the late afternoon before the engineering team gave the weapons systems and shield systems the A-OK. As soon as the impulse engines get checked our exercise was on. The team can check out the warp drive during the exercise, as we were in–system inside the hyper limit. The clusters of asteroids and planet's rings that we were going to use as targets would be ranged at impulse speeds.

The mock attack run had commenced. "Bring up the multi-phasic shields and torpedoes," I ordered.

"What about the phasers?" John asked.

"They won't penetrate the multi-phasic shields in either direction. When we're turtled up, we're down to torpedoes," I mentioned.

Not like it mattered. Our attack run was under a minute. As soon as wer were in the midst of our targets we fired full spreads from both our fore and aft torpedo launchers. Two-dozen torpedoes screamed out the fore, and another two-dozen the aft. Seconds later and 48 asteroids were turned into expanding balls of plasma.

"I think that should do a sufficient number on anybody in our way. Provided those shields can stop that grazer. But in any case if it shows up again I want the entire crew life-linked," I stated.

"That might not help in all cases," John mentioned.

"No, but it's better than nothing."

A week after we got back to Sunhome one of the outer garrisons reported in. Razia and I are called to the guild mages chambers. Razia was there when I arrived and briefed me.

"Wanna bet our Orion is back?" I asked.

Razia whispered in my ear, "Only if you win I have to make love to you, and if I win you have to make love to me…"

I grinned at that. "I like your betting style."

"Knew you would!"

Arcus interrupted us. "The garrison is reporting in. They have a team in the field. Apparently they encountered guard posts and a minefield. They are backing off."

"Déjà vu?"

"Déjà what?" Razia asked.

"An old Earth term when you think you were someplace before or did something again, but can't place your finger on it."

"OK, interesting. But we'd better get back to the _Helion__3_. Let's see if we can catch this Orion," Razia ordered.

By the time we reached the bridge the Orion was breaking orbit and running towards the rift.

"Don't bother chasing after him. Besides if he doesn't make the rift and is working with the alien, we might not be able to lure them in," I ordered.

"You actually want to fight them again?" John asked.

"Yes," Razia interjected. "I meant it when I said I want to wring their necks."

It was only 15 days later when the alien ship showed up again. This time we saw the rift form, and then the ship flying through.

"Heat 'em up," I ordered. The bridge crew was powering up the ship. "Lets cloak before liftoff."

The invisible _Helion__3_ soared into the dark. "Intercept course laid in," Sara stated. Razia had relieved the crewmember at tactical. She planned on pulling the trigger herself.

Ten minutes later we were in weapons range. "Swing around and come at him from the rear. Arm the MP torpedoes," I ordered Razia. Fingers flew across the tactical board.

We slid in silently behind them, apparently not noticed. The strange ship continued on to Ravnica. I ordered, "Flip shields to MP mode now and lock on torpedoes … fire!"

Razia pressed the firing stud and two-dozen torpedoes raced for their target. They caught the alien ship in mid turn, and turned it into vapour.

"Well, it looks like they aren't that invincible when they can't use their grazer," I commented.

"Good. Let's see them send another ship, and we'll blast it straight to Mars!" Razia replied. "…And yes, that's a quote from _Hunt__for__Red__October_!"

A week later and another strange ship enters Ravnican space. This time it jumped in elsewhere and crossed the hyper wall. We had plenty of time to take up the _Helion__3_ and cloak. We were going to pass by them and get in behind again. They changed course as if they were actually tracking us.

"Turtle up," I ordered. "We are about to test those new shields against their grazer."

I grabbed my skin-suit helmet and put it on. All of the mortals except Nergat were donning helmets and gloves. Both my angels had an arm around me and were staying close, and there was a monster at sciences. Maya transformed into a creature that could take the vacuum of space. She preferred that to a confining helmet.

"Do those multi-phasic torpedoes come in cruise mode?" Nergat asked from tactical.

"Not yet unfortunately," I answered. "And the extra internal space needed means their range is only 750 000." Photon and quantum torpedoes have a range of just under a million. "So cruise mode, when it comes, is only going to be 3 million." And we had no clue as to the range of the grazer.

Closing with the alien ship head on was a little intimidating. If those new shields don't stop the grazer the survivors will have to build the _Helion__4_…

"Range 1.5 million and closing," John announced from ops. He and Pense were together on ops while Brent was on engineering. Our two Mek-Tacs could also take a vacuum and be just fine.

Turns out that it was a moot point. They fired their grazer at 900 000 km and the multi-phasic shields shrugged it off as it did all the phaser blasts. Net damage: zero. In 150 000 more km of closing they were about to get an unpleasant surprise…

"Arm a single torpedo please," I ordered.

"You're going to find out exactly what it takes to take them down now that their grazer is negated, aren't you," Nergat replied.

"You bet-"

"And we are going to enjoy every minute of it!" Razia interjected. She removed my helmet. "You won't need this after all." Then she gave me a big smooch.

The first torpedo slammed through their shields (if they had any) and did substantial damage.

"I think a spread of five should do the trick," Maya stated from sciences. She had changed back to her normal form. Our resident shape shifter usually only does that when she is messing with Tony's head.

"Spread of five?" Nergat asked, more of Razia than me.

"Go for it," Razia answered. She was willing to take them out fast. Razia's sense of justice usually included instant scorching of the guilty.

Sure enough another 5 torpedoes reduced the alien ship to wreckage. We returned to Sunhome.

Two more months passed by without a sighting of either the Orion or the alien. We were testing out the multi-phasic systems for some of our other ships. In two more months all of our fleet would be refitted, including the old _Fantom_ and _Fury_. The technological kick in the teeth we received would not happen again.


	13. Back in Black

**13: BACK IN BLACK**

A new ship was slicing through the dark, but it wasn't that new. From the outside it looked like a beat up old mission class courier from the past. In fact the outer hull was! But there the illusion ended. The interior was entirely new, even if the name was not. The _7__th__ Sister_ rides again, and its alter ego, the _SS Pleiades_, out of Deneva, reappears on the big universes' radar. In this case the ship sports a generation-9 warp core, although the warp nacelles still look generation 4. Deck one was almost stock, but the interior would give the ship away. The new LCARS bridge would belay her late model refit, but the only thing other from deck 1 was the secret room. The transporter room was also moved aft to balance the cargo bay and increase the size of the VIP quarters. When you reached the second deck the modifications were "less" hid. The crew lounge was smaller and half of the deck 2 quarters was missing as well. In their place was a set of dual shields including a cloaking device and multi-phasics. The armory was also missing and a weapons locker had been installed in the VIP quarters. What that meant was deck three had the room for an oversized impulse reactor and warp core. Taking a page from section 31, the phasers were still type 13, using turret emitters as opposed to phaser strips, as the latter would certainly give it away. The torpedo tubes were improved and were fully loaded with multi-phasic torpedoes, including 4 cruise torps.

The crew totaled six, Razia, Sara, and me on deck 1. That's why we needed the expanded VIP quarters on the ship. And we were all "back in black" as it were in our black _SS Pleiades_ uniforms out of the past. Sara never seen them, but Razia did. I was shocked when she produced her uniform from 7 millennia ago, still intact and magically preserved. Then there was Nergat, K'Tee and Toki, living on the second deck…

Razia gave me a hug, as she sported her old uniform. I actually had to get a new one made, as well as one for Sara. We all had matching black uniforms, except for the number of wing sleeves. Unlike the runabouts the 7th Sister could land at any civilian spaceport and no one would be the wiser. She was just another small tramp freighter with a small but slightly weird crew. And that was the point. We were headed to a small freight starport on some backwater planet, in my mana-less universe. It would take a month to get there.

* * *

I was on the bridge examining a ring.

"What's that?" Razia asked when she entered

"That is the reason we're here," I replied. "This ring belongs to none other than Grand Admiral Moyesha Halfview."

Sara turned from ops. "You're kidding, right?"

"This ring and this note are the entire reason that I had this ship built, and the entire reason we are here. Either Halfview somehow jumped forward, or one of his descendents sent that, specifically to Ravnica and Sunhome. Usually they can't or won't come in person, no matter how desperate. And just in case I need to know. You're here to beat anyone that tries to attack us into snail snot…"

"OK, I'll bite. Who is Grand Admiral Moyesha Halfview?" Razia asked.

"Just the head of the Rimworlds navy during our tenure there," Sara answered. And Sara would remember him more vividly than I with her eidetic memory. "And if it actually is him then curiosity has definitely killed this cat!" Sara winked at me. She had actually seen the _Far Side_ cartoon!

* * *

We were out in that region of space beyond the rim, where a few human lost colonies resided. We were going to a planet that we knew was parocial and backwards: Covenant. The last time we headed out here it was to the planet Wellbefallen, with disastrous results. Its fellow planets were Mairianis and … Covenant. That meant that my fellow angel crew might put us at risk! But then again, it might make us untouchable either. The technology had not improved much, but warp powered vessels did land here. Even as a stock Mission class, we would be top of the heap. Being 9th generation would be a total shock out here. I hoped we wouldn't have to let the cat out of the bag, as it were. What the descendents of Halfview would be doing out here was anybody's guess. We also had an ace in the hole…

* * *

We received permission to land at Covenant's main spaceport, which we did. It wasn't much of a spaceport to talk about anyways. Then it was registering with the authorities. This was going to be tricky, having two angels among the crew. To our surprise, they seemed to be non-plussed, taking our strange crew in stride. We entered the port city without any problems. Now to find the current owner of the ring…

* * *

Actually it didn't take that long as a search of the spaceport bars quickly turned up a suspect. Something about our unusual crew, which stood out amongst newcomers to this planet. As soon as we entered the main spaceport bar and got a booth for ourselves, a visitor approached. He looked familiar, but was definitely NOT Moyesha Halfview. It turns out that it is one of his descendents that figured out who we were, and sent the ring. But that was OK. I half expected that, and our preps were 'just in case' anyways. Our meeting was rather … interesting.

* * *

"This is a surprise..." he stated. "If you arrived in that mission class courier that landed earlier, either you left most of the angels behind, or there are that few… By the way I am Andrew Halfview."

"I'm Stephen Michael, and this is Razia and."

"Sara, I do believe. I have heard all these fancy tales about you," Andrew interrupted.

"Fancy tales?" Sara asked.

"Yes. Especially the one about surviving the destruction of your ship and waiting or a couple of hours in space for a pick-up."

"That _did_ happen." I warned. "In fact any angel in their mana-verse can survive vacuum indefinitely. Sara had to go through it again with the rest of the angels when the _Parhelion II_ was destroyed. If it weren't for that and other angelic abilities, all us mortals wouldn't be here right now…" I finished by looking over at Nergat. If he could have shrugged his shoulders, he would have.

"Oh. So all those other stories…"

"On first order think of an angel as a winged humanoid with an indefinite lifespan. They are orders of magnitude stronger and faster than we are. In their own universe their bones are almost un-breakable and their flesh can be pierced only by special materials. They can wield magic and are impervious to many kinds of it. They have other special abilities as well."

"Flight obviously," Andrew responded. "But what else?"

Razia decided to answer, "You would have to join the Boros Legion to find that out."

"OK, I'm not quite ready for that! But right now I need your help. I'm stranded on this planet!" He exclaimed. "As soon as the authorities found out that I'm alone on this planet, they charged me with 'carnal sin' and seized my shuttle!"

"Now where have we heard that one before?" I queried.

"Wellbefallen!" The rest of my old crew shouted, leaving Razia puzzled.

I looked at Razia, "I'll tell you that story sometime… Look, we'd better get back to the ship, before they decide that they can try for ours too." We quickly left the spaceport bar and headed towards our landing bay. I turned to my angels. "You should fly ahead and secure the ship."

"But what if you're attacked? No way - we go together, and that's that," Razia ordered. So we stayed together, and our return trip to our ship was unexpectedly uneventful.

"Odd, no events, and nobody tried to break into the ship," I mused.

"And how do you know that?" Andrew asked.

"Watch…" I cycled the airlock door. "See this little red light?"

"Now I do."

"Any time this door opens that light comes on. It has to be manually reset, like this…" I went through the set of steps to reset the light.

"Are you paranoid or something?"

"Yes!" Both Sara and Razia shouted.

"Happy –go-lucky guys don't get to be my age," I stated.

"Right. Grand Admiral would be over 1200…"

"Then let's go up to the crew lounge…"

* * *

A few hours later and we were sitting down to dinner. It was a buffet type affair, so Razia could stick to her vegetarian regime. By this time, Razia was used to the fact that Sara would eat some meat on occasion. I can remember the shocked look on Razia's face when she first saw Sara eating a slice of bacon…

We were discussing Andrew's predicament and the intriguing story that was his reason for journeying way out here. It was only by dumb luck that he found a passing through freighter to take the ring to Ravnica. Apparently some of my exploits have made the galactic news net (or what's left of it actually) thanks to the avens and some others.

An alarm interrupted our dinner. I patched a comm. channel from the Covenant spaceport to the crew lounge.

"You have been convicted of engaging in carnal sin. Prepare to be boarded!" Came the announcement from the spaceport control. I looked at Razia and Sara. Their expressions indicated that this was just tiring.

"And who's army is going to enforce that?" I queried.

"The Covenant Religious Defense Force!" Came the reply.

"Bring them on," I responded. "I promise to leave the bodies piled high."

* * *

An hour later and absolutely no one showed up. This waiting was becoming tiring, but at least Sara told Razia about our exploits on Wellbefallen.

Razia's response was, "bring 'em on! We'll send them back in body bags!"

Eventually a 'device' was pushed into the landing bay. It did set off our radiological alarms.

"Oh look. A nuke. Hope it's on a timer…" I pulled up the remote for the transporter, and a flash later and it was gone.

"OK, where did you move it to?" Andrew asked.

"I beamed it directly to their control center. That's why I hope it has a timer. But looking for an evacuation and not seeing any … hmmm … " Another quick transport, and under a minute later vehicles were speeding away form the spaceport.

"What did you just do?" Sara asked.

"I beamed an empty torpedo casing to their control center. If anyone opened the service panel a clock will be counting down from 20 minutes."

"You bastard! I love it!" Razia got out between fits of laughter. "They are running from the fake bomb but not the real one. Leaving is going to be easier than I thought!"

We headed to the bridge. It was time to heat up the warp drive while the torpedo counted down to zero. Andrew came to a dead stop as soon as he entered. "So, there's more to this ship than meets the eye," he accused while looking around at the LCARS displays. "Aside from our stock and well-disguising exterior, just how advanced is this ship?"

"Completely top of the line," I mentioned.

"If she was built at Wa-Lu, that would put her in the eighth or ninth generation…"

"Ninth, with enhancements. We had to make a few compromises however."

"Like what?"

"Like using small nacelle warp coils to fit them into the old style tubes, and removing half of the crew quarters to fit in the shields and structural integrity fields," I mentioned.

"I thought that crew lounge was a bit small…"

* * *

We reached the planetary system that Andrew's crew had found. There was no response to our hails…

"Approach with caution," I mentioned. There were only a few crewmembers aboard the _7__th__ Sister_ but they were all friends, rather than 'crew'.

"Doing that," Nergat replied. There was no question about Nergat's abilities. His friendship was well cemented. But that didn't stop the events that were about to unfold.

* * *

As the ship approached the planet, all power systems died. We were headed at high velocity straight at the planet, with no means of maneuvering…

"Shit! We lost all power!" Nergat exclaimed from his console. "Batteries are fading fast – soon we'll lose visual sensors!"

"Will we impact before then?"

"Yes. We get to see us augur in without inertial dampeners!"

"This is new," Andrew answered to my look.

I was on the engineering console. A quick reroute, and it went dark inside the little ship. It was dark and silent for a moment, and then you could hear the single tone of the landing thrusters. "Time to pray if anyone's in the mood," I mentioned.

"Pray to whom?" Razia asked. She was as helpless as everyone else on board, and now we were flying blind. In Ravnica, Razia was usually _prayed to_.

It seemed an eternity while we waited in the dark. Nobody was speaking. Then there was a sound like a freight train going past, followed by silence.

"According to my chronometer, we should have impacted by now," Nergat pointed out.

"That might be moot as the Batteries will be totally drained in about 10 minutes. Switching power to the forward view screens," I stated.

As the view screen came up, we found out what had happened. We had altered our course to just skip off of the planet's atmosphere and were heading back out into the depths of this solar system.

Sara piped up. "I guess we traded fates. Instead of dying due to deceleration trauma, we get to freeze to death in deep space…"

Then, as abruptly as it went, the power came back on. I maneuvered the ship into a station-keeping position relative to the planet. It was time to call in our backup…

* * *

A few hours later and three ships arrived in the system. The _Helion__3_, _Aleya_, and the _Nimbus_ were here as were all the angels, except for Feather. She was back in her office running things while we were out.

We entered the briefing room on the _Helion3_. It was time to figure out what to do next. Andrew was totally shocked by the presence of the fleet, but reacted well to the deception. He at least found where the rest of the Ravnican angels were.

We decided on an interesting plan. We would "lower" the _7__th__ Sister_ onto the planet from here, using the _Helion__3_ as the tractoring ship. This would take some time…

…It almost worked too. As soon as the _7__th__ Sister_ hit the atmosphere, the tractor beam cut out. Luckily our batteries weren't fully drained, so we survived the impact with the ground by channeling power to the inertial dampeners.

"Well, we're down…" I mentioned.

"But we don't have enough juice to even contact your main ship!" Andrew exclaimed.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," I mentioned. "First let's find your party."

Our phasers and other equipment were as drained as the ship. We had to manually crank open the doors, and the only lighting was the sunlight coming in through the portholes.

"Just a second," I mentioned as I opened the door to our quarters. "I have a blast from my past…" After the shooting incident with the Romulans, I had replicated my collection from the 20th century. I pulled out a pair of .45s and handed them to Razia and Sara, selecting a 9mm for myself. The angels could easily take a .50AE, but the desert eagle was not a service pistol, and wasn't in my collection.

Andrew's ship was a couple of kilometers away. The drift was the product of the planet's rotation. A short hike brought us there. Sure enough, Andrew's crew was here, camped out, as their main ship was as dead as ours. Andrew had left for an equipment run just before they made it into the ruins. As soon as they did that, all powered equipment was dead. They had been stuck here for over 4 months! Luckily they were primitive planet explorers and relic hunters, and had fall-back equipment.

"Something in there is doing our power systems in," Susan, Andrew's partner, stated. I expect we wont see them for most of this evening…

"Sun's going down, and it gets pretty nippy here at night." That was Scott, another of Andrew's crew.

So we settled in for the night. "Any dangerous fauna around here?" I asked.

"Nothing that will approach the fire. But from some of the sounds there is some pretty big critters out there." I suddenly felt that a 9mm was a bit under-gunned. Perhaps a .50BMG with some explosive tipped rounds…

* * *

We woke up to a crisp cool morning and the smell of bacon cooking. "There goes Sara's self control," Razia quipped.

Sara must have been practicing the stink-eye. "Just because _YOU_ don't have the courage to try some barbeque…" It had become a long-running joke between them.

We stepped out into a camp in reveille. Scott passed, mentioning, "Their royal highnesses are still sleeping. They must have had a little too much fun last night."

Breakfast was being served. We ate well while Andrew and Susan slept through it. They eventually awoke to cold eggs and bacon. Andrew's crew was packing some heavy projectile firepower, including a couple of RPG's. Not good for close quarters, but suitable to keep those "big critters" at bay. We headed out to the ruins, about a three-hour walk. I expected Nergat to meet us there as he was taking the subterranean route.

* * *

It was a large round building buried in the sand. It appeared to be a squat cylinder of immense diameter, which changed into a truncated cone. It was metallic, and appeared to be here a long time. _A precursor building? _Only about a quarter of the wall was exposed, the rest buried in the sand. That would put the building over ½ kilometer in diameter, and about 100 meters tall.

"We got in trough that opening there," Scott said, pointing to an opening about halfway up the building side. The shifting sands allowed us to climb up to the opening.

"Then what happened?" Andrew asked this time.

"Then as soon as we cut our way into a corridor, the phaser cutter cut out. Since then, nothing electrical, nuclear or gravitic has worked," Susan replied. By now we were standing in that opening. Scott and Paul were setting up a pair of ancient carbide lamps. _Good ol' chemistry to the rescue_…

"You might not need those except as backup," I mentioned. You could see the chunk of wall that was cut out to make a hole into the corridor. Light was coming _from_ the corridor. We started down the corridor. A little while later, I asked, "Who here is an engineer?"

No one answered. Then Paul stated, "Well, Scott knows enough to keep the ship running…"

"I thought as much. I have a news flash for everybody. We're not in a building," I hinted.

"Ok, I'll bite." Sara responded.

"We're in a ship," I concluded. "We entered through a hangar bay, and activated some kind of ship's system. Time and sand scoured any equipment in the hangar into unrecognizability. Take a look at these corridors."

"Then where is this power coming from?" Andrew asked. "From that sandblasting, this thing has sitting here for millennia!"

"Take three guesses," Razia answered. She figured it out _real fast_.

Realization dawned on his face. "US!"

"Somewhere on board is a power absorbing machine," Sara concluded. "We need to knock it out."

"How about we just starve it out?" Nergat asked.

"How do we do that?"

"Since the lights are still on, our ships are still producing power," Nergat replied. "It's just being sucked here, before we can use it. We go back and make sure every system is shut down and totally cold. Then whe we return it cant use our energy against us."

"Makes sense to me…"

So back we went and went through all our systems making sure everything was off: Reactors, injectors, switches. By the time we returned to the camp-out it was getting dark, and a campfire dinner was underway.

Razia left Sara and me at the barbecue pit in search of "safer" sustenance. Here in the mana-less universe even angels had to eat. Wonderful thing a good barbecue sauce is. Could be pork … could be lizard. It didn't really matter in the long run as long as I didn't get scales stuck in my teeth…

THWACK! Something strikes me in the back of the head. It turned out to be a pickle. I was soo enjoying the barbecued meat that I forgot about the telepathic link under high emotions. "I actually tasted that!" Razia accused.

"Then taste it again…" I grabbed her and gave her a big smooch, knowing full well the fact that I had a face full of barbecue sauce. Razia actually giggled like a little girl! It was the first time I had _ever_ seen her do that! Next thing I know is I'm being dragged off to the tent. I guess there won't be any shows of us making out by the barbecue pit…

"As long as it goes through your digestive tract and not mine…"

* * *

I was pretty sure that morning came too early. Either that or I am getting too soft for tent camping. A hearty breakfast, gear up, and hike to the wreck. Climb back in … and the lights are still on. "Great. That didn't work," Andrew observed.

"Actually in part it did," I noticed. "The lights are noticeably dimmer than yesterday."

"It thought we turned everything off…"

"You can't really turn off a nuclear battery… This thing is very advanced. It intercepts the power right at the source, and it doesn't seem to matter what that source is," I stated. We found a control node of some sort. The controls appeared to be quite manual. There were runes written on the panels here.

"Anybody recognize these?" Andrew asked.

"Stephen does," Razia replied.

"No I don't," I corrected.

"Yes you do. I've seen them in your mind."

"Well, since I don't have an eidetic memory like you do, it will be impossible for me to systematically sift through all those auto-teacher lessons to find the right one!" I exclaimed.

"But I can, for you," Razia explained. "It's about time you find out exactly what our telepathic link can do…"

* * *

"Well…" Andrew was getting impatient. All his crew did was spend the last three hours watching the three of us sitting on the floor, with Razia and Sara's hands held to my temples. Nergat, K'Tee and Toki got the same boring show.

"They are the Kelvan," I answered while getting up. Then I nearly fell over. It was like being drunk, but on thoughts. Not only was there a permanent presence of Razia and Sara, I felt like the guy on the movie _Limitless_. "That also explains the deck height. A Kelvan was a little larger than a minotaur." This heightened awareness would get some taking used to.

"Where are they from?"

"The Andromeda Galaxy."

"You're kidding, right."

"No, this ship is from another galaxy, and that explains the different technologies. A ship this size would be either a warship or colonizer. Since we aren't currently being enslaved, I'd say the crew didn't make it," I concluded. Man this unbridled access to my memories is heady! I had already realized where we had to go.

It took a while to get there. Although I knew where we needed to be, I didn't know the layout of this ship, so we ended up wandering around a lot. We eventually found ourselves in a chamber at the hull of that ship. This large array swooped over our heads. Cables, like tentacles, snaked from what looked like a "taproot from hell" spread outward to points on the array. A control panel was near the "taproot".

"That is the central power node. The panel appears to be on some sort of emergency acquisition mode. Its main job is to act like shields, but by sucking up the energy rather than deflecting it."

Great minds think alike. _Or fools seldom differ!_ By the time I drew my pistol, my angels had brought theirs to bear. Three clips emptied in rapid succession. Sparks emanated from the console. Two RPG blasts to the "taproot", and the power-draining machine went dead. "Time to go!" I ordered. The dim light had started to flicker. Soon the only light would be from two carbide lamps.

There was a mad scramble from the wreck to our ships. Andrew and his crew made it back first, and as we approached the 7th Sister, he was in his airlock. One final wave goodbye and we boarded our own ship, after a short hike. A quick trip to the hyper limit and we had a rendezvous with our fleet. Then it was back to Ravnica.

* * *

Just one problem. The rift wasn't there!


	14. Cry Little Sister

**14: Cry Little Sister**

The fleet took a few hours to hook the mana-less universe' half of the subspace relay to the _Helion__3_. Then we began the five week journey to return to the Iconian planet. A normal and boring journey … with one exception: By the time we arrived in-system our trio of star ships had become a convoy of seven, as four freighters looking for a route to Ravnica joined us after it became apparent that we weren't heading to New Psyconia. \

Another surprise awaited us in-system. A modified Daedalus class cruiser was in orbit around the planet, her transponder identifying her as _The Inquisitor's Omen_. There already was a squad of goblins on the ground, furiously trying to get into the building.

"Like the brute force method is going to work," Razia mentioned.

"Well … they are goblins," Pense quipped.

"Hey!" Zurd exclaimed. "I resemble that remark!"

"Yes you do," I replied, to the rest of the bridge crew's snickers. "I think it's time that we went down there before Srukat's crew destroys the place."

We only took a few hours to find the rifts. None of them seemed to lead to Ravnica…

* * *

We were headed to one of the four rifts found. A rather long journey of 10 weeks at warp 9.92. The sorting of which rift each ship would investigate was easy: Distance. The fastest ship got the farthest rift. That was us. It did not take long in determining that we weren't in Ravnica. A quick bit of stellar cartography told us that. But the nearest system was inhabitable, so while we were here, why not stop and take a look around.

"What happened the last time you checked out a new universe?" I asked Razia.

"I got most of my daughters killed, and nearly died." Razia frowned, then went on, "that is until you came back for me." Razia's grip on my arm was almost painful.

"Actually that was a few universes ago. I was thinking about Alara, actually."

"Oh." Razia relaxed her grip. "You mean another universe like Ravnica's. In that case ... there would be a primary world near the mana center, which should have a thriving civilization, and then a few other planetary systems with life on them. Since the nearest system is inhabitable we should start there first. And if the rift to Ravnica is indeed closed, we need to figure out how to jump there from here."

"So that's our strategy. John..."

"Course laid in," John replied.

* * *

The planet reminded me more of Eptel III than Ravnica. A thin overcast seemed to pervade the place, and the rather remote F-class star cast an otherwise sharp hue to the place. It seemed to be the perfect place to film a horror movie. One main landmass was surrounded by a vast ocean. There was a variety of life, including humanity. Our scanners indicated a medieval or renaissance level of technology, but with the presence of mana, we knew better. Horse drawn carriages and energy weapons can make a rather odd mix.

"OK, strategies," I stated. We were back in the rarely used briefing room.

Maya spoke up. "This land mass seems to be the only inhabited area on the planet. The islands and smaller landmasses appear to be unoccupied. There seem to be 4 regions of this main continent, and the eastern region is particularly cloud shrouded. This volcanic ridge emits various compounds that also colour the clouds in this region. It is not nearly as densely populated as the northern plains here, but the constant cloud cover means that we can use atmospheric craft above the cloud layer without being spotted. There is also a fair sized village located there, near a rather unusual power source."

"Power Source?" Razia inquired.

"Yes. A rather large mana-based power source is located there. It appears to give off a pulsating and shifting mana spectrum." Maya put the pattern up on a screen. It had a rather pretty shifting shifting fractal pattern, like the kind that would accompany early 21st century trance music.

"So about this town?" John asked, after a pregnant pause.

"I can always find out what's under it," Nergat offered.

Maya switched the view back to the town's layout. All the angels in the room appeared to snap out of some sort of trance. I seemed to be the only one who noticed, however. _Was it just me? _"I'll bet it would be just rock, unless you hit a mine."

"Then I'll try not to dissolve any miners," Nergat quipped. That got a chuckle from the few that knew Nergat's origin, and puzzled looks from everybody else.

The conversation then devolved into whether we should concentrate on the one town or send a few teams to different locations. It was decided that we should only be sending humans down. "Sorry Nergat. Until we find out the local intelligent fauna down there we will have to stick to those who can blend in," I concluded.

* * *

I awoke in Sara's arms. Razia had already risen. I was unusually tired. _You would think that after all this time I'd be used to a standard Ravnica day_. Our fleet used it as our time base. "Computer, what is the location of Razia?"

"Commander Razia is currently on the planet's surface," the computer replied.

I sat bolt upright. "She probably is looking for that power source," Sara mentioned.

"Yeah, about that. You angels seemed to be in a trance looking at its mana pattern yesterday."

"Maybe we were," was Sara's reply. "I felt unusually attracted to it, as if it were calling to me."

_Oh, great_, I thought. _If Razia had succumbed to some type of angel trap…_

* * *

I had walked down the town's main street. The fog was still thick, producing a twilight effect similar to the weather conditions of Eptell-III. Razia had disappeared somewhere in this town … but where? My trusty tricorder told me it was only mid-afternoon, even though it looked like twilight. The only other activity was a carriage being loaded, and the only way I knew that was the sounds of wooden crates being stacked and the creak of the carriages' suspension. I headed in that direction as it appeared to be the only activity around.

That might not have been the best idea. "Oh great. It's Count Dracula," I muttered. _Well he does look like Dracula, at least out of the old Hammer films_, I thought.

"Who did you call me, human?" the tall pale male asked.

"Count Dracula … or Christopher Lee. Take your pick," I replied. I scanned him with my tricorder. "Definitely not human, and not white ape either."

"My, a feisty one you are." A female voice from behind me. I heard no sounds of approach, which was eerie in this thick fog. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Olivia Voldaren." She appeared to be floating across the ground. The gothic dress she was wearing appeared to be one of the finest examples of craftsmanship I had seen on this planet so far.

If she was expecting a certain reaction I must have been a disappointment. I scanned her with the tricorder. "Also not human, at least not anymore," I commented. In total there were only four of these aliens here.

"Your little box is perceptive. You definitely are not from around here, are you?" she asked.

"Oh, so you noticed." Did I mention that sarcasm was my second language? "Look, I've come a long way to find something, and I'd rather not be in your way. But then again, you definitely don't want to be in my way either," I threatened. Whatever theses beings were, my tricorder already told me they were easier to take out than most angels. Against the only phaser kata expert in the region I was confident that they didn't stand a chance. The big question is why are they here, where is their ship, and why are they masquerading as rich locals?

"Interesting, no fear whatsoever," the tall one stated. I don't think that they know I overheard them.

"Well then, whoever you are, I wish you success in your search, but we are in a little rush. Perhaps our next meeting may be a little more amicable?" Olivia, if that's her real name, was definitely a good diplomat. Why not return the favour?

"Then I will take my leave of you. May your travels be pleasant," I replied. _No point in being an asshole about it._

We parted company. The thick fog lifted enough that I could make out buildings, including the town's pub. I headed there. _What better place to get some local intel?_

There was definitely many things wrong here. As I approached, I could see the trepidation on the faces of those inside. Apparently they saw, or at least heard, the entire encounter, their faces plastered to the windows. I simply walked into the pub and up to the bar. "What have you got?" I asked.

"What do you want?" the bartender asked. He was either in awe of me, or in fear of me.

"Something strong," I replied. "Especially after those wierdos," I mentioned.

"You don't know who they were?" the bartender asked incredulously. "That was the local vampire lords!"

"Bullshit," I replied. "They aren't undead. This confirms that," I stated, holding up my tricorder. "They can't be vampires, whatever they are."

"Oh, yes they are!" was the chorus from the crowd. "They are the master vampires of this region!"

"But … they aren't undead," I replied. "All the vampires I've met are undead. And I've met enough undead to tell the difference,"

"You aren't from around here," The leader of this group stated.

"That much is certain," I replied.

Then you should know that vampires around here are common, and their condition is a condition of the blood…"

'Who's blood?" I asked.

"The blood of an angel, sacrificed during the silver moon," the gentleman replied.

"Oh, great," I answered. "Then I suspect you also have a lycanthropy problem too."

"A what problem?" he asked.

"A werewolf problem."

He looked at the floor. "Yes actually. Us humans are a rather endangered species here…" he trailed off.

"Let me show you something." Then to the bartender I asked, "do you really need that broken down chair over there?" I pointed to the chair.

"Aside from firewood, no!" the bartender stated.

I pulled one of my phasers. "Watch this," I told him. A quick blast and the chair disappeared in a puff of photons. "Vampires, werewolves, … doesn't matter to this gun. They all get blasted into subspace. You seem to be this town's protector," I asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"Then here. These settings…" I explained the phaser's settings and capabilities to the gentleman, giving him a phaser and an extra power pack. I also found out that the warehouse may contain an "angel trap". Apparently since the return of the angel Avacin the vampires have been looking into getting rid of the local angels. He also mentioned that a strange angel (strange to him, having 4 wings!) may have entered the trap. I definitely needed into the warehouse, despite his warnings that no human ever has left it.

* * *

I had entered the warehouse as quietly as I could. Whoever was in here had the capacity to incapacitate an angel, so as soon as I was sure of my target, I was prepared to blast away. It took a few minutes to wind my way to almost the center of the warehouse, where the rows of shelves of goods abruptly ended. Lit by some magical light were two large amber cylinders … both holding a single winged being. The warehouse was devoid of other life.

I instantly recognized Razia, walking right up to her. The cylinder appeared, and felt like a large single amber crystal, as if Razia was encased in a large quartz, perfectly preserved for eternity. Yet something wasn't right. I already felt Razia's presence through the life link, but I was unsure if she was aware of _my_ presence here. A persistent press on the surface led me to believe that it wasn't really solid. I had run into enough force fields to know the difference by now …

… CRUNCH …

… CRUNCH … _You know, you really ought to be better at this_ …

… CRUNCH …

* * *

… I was in pain. Whoever knocked me out was a real amateur at it. I could barely sit up. _Interesting furnishings_, I thought. Then I felt hands on my temples, and the pain went away. "Whoever did that should be shot for ineptitude," I casually mentioned.

"Consider it done." I recognized the voice, and a chill ran down my spine. _Olivia Voldaren, Vampire._ "Do you know where you are?"

"Well, I appear to be your guest. Your place, I presume?"

"Of course, my summer castle ... your highness."

"Your _what_-ness?" _That was unexpected!_

"Your highness. For the next three days, you are the king of vampires. Honorary, of course," Olivia explained. "Follow me." We left the ... bedroom, it was. Vampires around here don't seem to take to sleeping in coffins...

"You seem to know this angel..", Olivia insinuated.

In another chamber were the two stasis chambers, one with Razia, and one with the unknown angel. _Pure Luck_. I reached down and picked up Razia's communicator pin. "Of course I do. She is a member of my crew," I stated.

"Your crew? What crew?"

"My starship crew, the _Helion__3_," I replied. _No point in lying about my status._

"You have angels in your ship's crew. I will tell you flatly that I don't believe a word you are saying." Olivia went on, "No matter, you are the king of vampires for three days only, before you reach your end. Do you know what that means?"

"Only for you. Unfortunately for you I'm a special case, so like the Spanish Inquisition, expect the unexpected!" That was my final reply. I set the communicator pin on auto-transmit so my ship would hear everything said by me and by those around me. Olivia didn't stand a chance.

* * *

The last two days were ... interesting, to say the least. These vampires can put on a good show, when they want to. The party was nominally in 'my honour' but it was definitely for the vampires of this planet. Unbeknownst to these folk, I was in contact with my ship, and there were machinations afoot.

Apparently I wasn't alone in making machinations either. From my "throne", the big comfy chair set up at the end of the ballroom, where I was wined and dined and entertained. At least the food and beverages were top drawer here. But a commotion was brewing at the other end of the room. It appeared that there was an uninvited guest to this party...

"Sorin ..." I overheard. Some bodies name?

"You shouldn't have come back..."

"Your excesses are unbecoming of our species..."

"ENOUGH," I roared, while walking across the ballroom floor. "While I still have time, I expect my orders to be followed," I stated. "I would like to meet this new guest. Introduce him," I commanded.

"You are unusual, for a human," he replied. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sorin Markov, lord of Innistrad, and planeswalker."

"Oh great. That's just what I need, yet another planeswalker. Just like bullet wounds."

"You know of us planeswalkers?" Sorin asked.

"Just Jace and Elspeh, and now you. You folks have a habit of getting in my way," I stated.

"Actually some of us only want balance." His eyes narrowed. "If you are who I think you are, then my 'friend' Olivia is for a great surprise," Sorin stated. "Release Bruna for me."

"The other angel, sure," I replied. "You seem to be OK. Perhaps I misjudged you."

"I will definitely say you did. I also have other information for you. There was an event you missed, called the planar collapse. Things are afoot, with the multiverse. Ravnica isn't where you expect it to be," Sorin mentioned. _Tell me something I don't know_, I thought.

* * *

The following day was unusual, as it was quite sunny. This made the vampires sleepy, but unlike most vampires, the sunlight wasn't lethal to them. I was left to my own devices for the final day.

There was some heated discussion between Olivia and her servants. Why I was let out of the castle was the question at hand. The servants had no reason not to.

"Now where-" Olivia blurted.

Olivia had walked out of the castle, expecting me to have run down the mountain. But to her surprise, I was sitting on the castle's railing, watching the sun go down. I was in my ship's uniform, with a pair of phasers at my hip. But what stopped her in mid sentence was my companion, Sara. We were cuddling and watching the sunset. An angel was definitely an unwanted companion.

"Where did SHE come from?" Olivia asked.

"My ship, of course," I replied. "If you think you are alone with me you are sadly mistaken. You should have believed me about my ship and crew. Let me show you something you haven't seen before," I interrupted.

"Make it quick, your reign is about to end soon," Olivia stated.

I led the troupe of vampires into the room with Razia and Bruna, both still encased in their stasis fields. "It goes like this…"

"What is it called?" Yister asked.

"It's called phaser kata. Now pay attention." It was a very short demonstration. The only targets were the mana-spheres powering the stasis fields, which readily collapsed, freeing Razia and Bruna from their amber prisons.

Xavier burst into the room, initially not noticing the two freed angels among the vampires. "Olivia, the vault is empty!"

The shock on Olivia's face was either to the animation of the angels or the loss of her fortune, I couldn't tell which. But she eventually composed herself and turned to me. "You did this…" she stated.

"You bet," I responded. "In case you are wondering, I'm still not alone. The Ravnican angels and the rest of my crew were always in reach. You really should see what you are up against!"

The _Helion__3_ decloaked on cue, making a prominent sight out the main castle gallery. The other angel, and every vampire and servant froze at the image. Razia simply walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me from behind.. "I did feel you ever since the warehouse," she whispered in my ear. Then she looked around. "They didn't stand a chance, did they?"

"Nope," I stated aloud, bringing the vampires out of their state of shock. "OK." I clapped my hands, getting everyone's attention. "Time to let all the secrets out," I stated. "You vampires, … well wannabe vampires at that, think you are top of the heap here. The only thing stopping you is this Avacin character, at least on your own planet. This angel," I held my hand out pointing to the other freed angel.

"Bruna, light of alabaster!" the angel exclaimed. "Avacin's right hand!" Bruna sure looked like she was ready to slaughter all of the vampires here, especially after being trapped in a stasis field.

I walked up to Bruna. "Listen, things are afoot right now. Meet Razia, the Boros archangel and my companion." Bruna regarded Razia, then quickly embraced her. Razia and Bruna spoke quickly, in a language that I didn't understand. My best guess was white mana.

There was a sense of defeat amongst the vampires. As if they finally detected that they had been had by a higher power, one that actually held all the cards. "You were never in any danger, were you," Olivia asked.

"No, I wasn't. The entire time I was under my own guns of my ship, which had you squarely in my sights. The slightest wrong twitch would have brought instant destruction to your group."

"But how?..."

"That's a rather long story," I replied. "But one that started before we arrived in this micro-verse. Watch and you will see" I gave my ship the fist symbol, and the _Helion__3_ spat out a torpedo out of her aft tube, and the mountain range behind the ship briefly glowed before the 50 megaton blast consumed it. It was a few moments before the rolling thunder of the blast reached us.

Sara walked up to me. "I should take this time to mention our guest..."

"What guest?" That came from both me and Olivia.

"This certain angel, born of a planeswalker vampire, believe it or not," Sara replied. "Allow me to present Avacyn, herself." On cue there was a metallic flash and scream and a new angel appeared in our midst.

Definitely a newcomer, and it brought out a planeswalker as well. Sorin wasn't that far away, apparently. So here I was surrounded by a new angel and a planeswalker, and I wasn't expecting the royal smooch, but that was what I got from Avacyn. She and Razia exchanged winks as Razia cut in, so I was safe.

"We should sneak out the back and leave these folk to their fate," Razia whispered.

"That bad huh..."

* * *

The star field of my old universe was a comforting sight as we passed down the eons between stars while travelling at FTL speeds. I'm still reminded of the saying "I don't look at them anymore" from the _Men in Black_. It was still 4 weeks before we were back to the Iconian planet when we received the transmission from the _Aleya. _They were the lucky ones to find the new rift to Ravnica, but the info came as a warning...


End file.
